[plt-scheme] Perplexed Programmers

On Aug 29, 2007, at 10:14 AM, Robby Findler wrote:

> On 8/29/07, Erich Rast <erich at snafu.de> wrote:
>> <snip>
>>  From my extensive experiences with it, I'd say that 'academic'
>> software (mostly written by computer scientists) is among the worst
>> when it comes to reliability and configurability, and I have grown a
>> decent amount of frustration about the software and abandonware
>> lurking around on university servers. In my experience, 'academic'
>> software rarely runs out of the box. Installation and setup tend to
>> be extremely tedious. And when you finally get the program to compile
>> and run, you still can't use it, because documentation lacks or is
>> inaccurate. Contacting developers is quite often not possible or they
>> just ignore your decently formulated questions. I could continue this
>> list for a long time...
>
> Your general sentiment seems to be in line with the quote above,
> perhaps even going further to observe that the very people who are
> supposed to teach people how to program cannot themselves program
> (something I also find to be quite true).
>
> Robby

I think this is where the craftsman/apprentice model might have  
something to offer in our field. My experience has been that the  
academics rarely had enough practical experience to effectively  
teach. I saw this when I was in college and I see it now, in the  
working world, with each batch of interns/freshly graduated new hires.

--Kevin