sher (11/08/82)
Do we really understand problem solving well enough to give a course in it? I realize that it is an important skill but just what is it? I found logical problems such as those in the GRE rather difficult in ways that do not seem relevant to most real problem solving situations. [ I refer to problems of the form If you have five people named ... and two boats and one truck and a helicopter ... and Susan must be separated from Jim because of what they did last time ... can they all fit?] Trying to cause children to be experts in this kind of problem solving seems to me to be irrelevant to any real life objective. Also I thought I was being taught how to solve problems when I went through school (I learned how to avoid the guards, how to walk through the halls without a pass and many other things that can be generalized to real life situations (since when is school not real life? you can get robbed, you get and lose credit, you fight with your peers ...)) Of course classes were places where one learned various exotic facts that may come in useful somewhere. Generally confused but perhaps willing to give my real name David Sher
jcwinterton (11/25/82)
In fact, it is doubtful that anyone can understand a computer application of any magnitude to consider that the algorithms written really "solve" the problem. However, I believe that it most certainly is useful to teach a course or courses in computer applications such as the ones Doug Dyment will be giving here at U of W. It is really a shame that "Computer Science" students and graduates often find out that while they know a lot about computers, that they don't know much about the bread and butter applic- ations such as Tariff Routing, General Accounting, Inventory Control, Manufacturing, etc. One of the most frustrating things that happens to installation managers is that the "excellently qualified" candidate for a job with a degree such as B. Math. with the CS options disdains the workaday languages such as PL/1, COBOL and FORTRAN and doesn't even understand the problem you want him to solve. More power to you, Doug! John Winterton.