Reply to Will

This post is in response to Will’s comment to a previous post.

Will-

Hello.

Maybe being a student is not a profession, but, if anything I would expect you, me, and everybody else to act like an *adult*. Saying this may queue up another argument from you on what being adult means, but, in general, the university expects you to act in a certain way. You’ve agreed to come to university, you have agreed to take part in a course, to put the time in, to look after yourself in an adult manner.

You’re right. I’ve never seen a distinct line between this so-called adult behaviour and so-called childish behaviour. I tend to behave as I feel—I do, however, see a distinction between being serious and having fun. I tend to the fun side of the serious/fun line. Maybe that means I do things ‘wrong' according to some social norms but who cares?

I wouldn’t expect you to run through the library screaming and ripping books off the shelf. Yet, you somehow think it is a good think to pepper your code with obscenities, which, I am sure would amuse a small child.

The book asked for an error message and I gave it one. It could have been a good idea to replace the place-holder error message with something that made more sense. But it was submitted over a week ago. I cannot change the past and I’m not planning on trying. Maybe if I was overly-serious about my education I’d care but I don't.

And yes, it comes down to me branding you a child, since you seem happy enough to parade your ‘I am right and you are wrong’ over your public blog.

Have you read any more of my blog? You’ll notice I don’t have a particularly serious (or ‘adult') style of writing so it's no literary diversion for me.

I can imagine you getting upset if someone else messed with your user area, or starting shouting out in a lecture, or any one of a thousand childish things that a fair section of our course are likely to do.

Look at yourself objectively and see if you are always ‘right’.

I may spend all day having fun (some days) but I’m not dim. Introspection cannever be objective. And besides, as far as I can tell I’m not always right. I never said I was always right. In case you hadn't noticed, the title included a small amount of sarcasm.

Maybe think that, at the moment, you are being taught a single path of programming. Do you know how it changes, how the lectures will change in the future? Have you even considered teaching yourself a different language, a different method of programming? Even offering to show it to your classmates?

I do not know how the lectures change in the future. But considering we’re being taught ‘object-orientated programming’ I doubt we'll be taught procedural programming in any great capacity. Why yes, I learnt most of the languages I know myself and I paid for my C lessons out of my own pocket (until I was reembursed by my school) because, for some reason, under-sixteens don't get free education and over-sixteens do (i.e. learning C and C++ at about 14/15 cost my school money and learning BSL and Mendhi at 16/17 cost my LEA money). And of course I've tried different methods—OO, procedural, declerative. All very fun. Teaching other people sounds interesting. Fancy learning XHTML/CSS?

As, if you only spent the time in labs and lectures to learn java, you would drop out of the course. You are expected to learn in your own time, which, I suggest you do, rather than spending it bitching about something you will never try to change.

Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on being lazy (at least not destructively lazy). I know a lot of Java syntax already through experience with other C/C++-like languages and I know a lot of the philosophy and jargon behind OO.

Stand up and do something, with your own education, or with the course itself. Make a proposal to the department that they should change the course to include different methods and classes. Do something rather than bitching and whining to me and everybody else in earshot that you do not like what is happening and it all sucks, as, and this comes back to my original point, in the end it just makes you look like a spoilt child throwing toys out of your pram.

I do do things. I spent the entire six weeks holidays doing very exciting things (i.e. reading The Art of Unix Programming, learning Python, webmastering South Square Centre’s website). I have no idea how to make a proposal to the department. I showed an interest in going to this SSLC and seeing what happened but you had no intention of letting me. You’re the SSLC class representative—surely it's your job to talk to the department?

That was fun.

What did we learn today?

• I cannot time-travel.


• It could have been a good idea to change the error message but, coming to my previous point, I cannot traverse the chronological dimension so there would be no great benefit gained from worrying about it now.


• I am not destructively lazy when it comes to my education. I take great pride in learning more than I’m taught.


• Giant space pandas made of carbon nanotubes will eat the world.