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From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: Where have all the hackers gone?
Message-ID: <1749@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 9-Dec-84 14:35:54 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.1749
Posted: Sun Dec  9 14:35:54 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Dec-84 03:19:29 EST
References: <3137@utah-cs.UUCP>
Reply-To: mangoe@maryland.UUCP (Charley Wingate)
Distribution: na
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 21
Summary: Help stamp out hacking

I have two comments:

  (1) When I graduated with my BS, which was back in the "Good Old Days"
      of lax standards, the general education of Computer Science majors was
      even worse than that of engineers, and not a whole lot better than
      education majors.  The general level of mathematical sophistication
      was about that of a high-school junior.  English?   What's that?
      Tightening up of standards can only help to improve these problems.
      And to those of you who advocate college as vocational training, I say,
      there's a place for you at the Computer Learning Center.

(2)   My experience is that hacking as a practice is a liability on large
      projects requiring more than one person.  I have no problems with
      cleverness, or with extreme brilliance; people who won't submit to any
      kind of supervision and who refuse to coordinate with others almost
      always build time bombs into the system which go off as soon the author
      is not around to patch them.  One company I know of has found that the
      best solution for this supposedly essential people is to either force
      them to conform or to fire them.

Charley Wingate     umcp-cs!mangoe