bobgian@psuvax.UUCP (01/28/84)
The PSU ("in person") component of the course has started up, but things
are a bit slow and confused regarding the "netwide" component.
For one thing, I am too busy finishing a thesis and teaching full-time to
handle the administrative duties, and we don't (yet, at least) have the
resources to hire others to do it.
For another, my plans presupposed a level of intellectual maturity and
drive that is VERY rare in Penn State students. I believe the BEST that
PSU can offer are in my course right now, but only 30 percent of them are
ready for what I wanted to do (and most of THEM are FACULTY!!).
I'm forced to backtrack and run a slightly more traditional "mini" course
to build a common foundation. That course essentially will read STRUCTURE
AND INTERPRETATION OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS by Hal Abelson and Gerry Sussman.
[This book was developed for the freshman CS course (6.001) at MIT and will
be published in April. It is now available as an MIT LCS tech report by
writing Abelson at 545 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139.]
The "netwide" version of the course WILL continue in SOME (albeit perhaps
delayed) form. My "mini" course should take about 6 weeks. After that
the "AI and Mysticism" course can be restarted.
For now, I won't create net.ai.cse but rather will use net.ai for
occasional announcements. I'll also keep addresses of all who wrote
expressing interest (and lack of a USENET connection). Course
distributions will go (low volume) to that list and to net.ai until
things start to pick up. When it becomes necessary we will "fork off"
into a net.ai subgroup.
So keep the faith, all you excited people! This course is yet to be!!
Bob
--
Bob Giansiracusa (Dept of Computer Science, Penn State Univ, 814-865-9507)
UUCP: bobgian@psuvax.UUCP -or- allegra!psuvax!bobgian
Arpa: bobgian@PSUVAX1 -or- bobgian%psuvax1.bitnet@Berkeley
Bitnet: bobgian@PSUVAX1.BITNET CSnet: bobgian@penn-state.csnet
USnail: 333 Whitmore Lab, Penn State Univ, University Park, PA 16802