problems with cs essay

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Scott Lane

February 10th, 2014

Troubling Institutional Developments in Computer Science

Today, the study and work in the field of Computer Science has been endanered by three ma!or

institutional de"elopments# First is the association of Computer Science with the interests of the

business sector# Second is the increased focus, to an irrational e$tent, on the de"elopment of web%based

applications# Third, and lastly, is the &Code '"anelism( that seeks to sensationali)e and uni"ersali)e

prorammin# These de"elopments ha"e the potential to increase the difficulty, and lessen the benefits,

of Computer Science study as well as make the process of software de"elopment more error%prone and

inefficient than it already is#

The first, and most hih%profile, institutional de"elopment that threatens the field of Computer

Science is the illoical and impractical association of this field with the field of business

administration# This de"elopment has come into bein because educators and business leaders ha"e

!ustified it by way of four important facts* +usinesses rely on software, some software de"elopers work

as freelance de"elopers small%businessmen, in essence-, de"elopers will need to know how to prepare

resumes, reference lists, etc#, in order to et !obs, and de"elopers may need to lead teams of

prorammers, which re.uires leadership, communication, and deleation skills#

The first point is easily refuted# The fact that businesses rely on a certain field does not make

that field a &business field(# For e$ample, many businesses rely on the manufacturin of chemical

products# This does not make the manufacturin of such products a &business discipline(, nor does it

make Chemistry a &business field(# The same can be said of automobile manufacturin necessary for

shippin companies-, construction necessary for construction companies and any business that desires

to ha"e workers located indoors-, culinary arts necessary for upscale restaurants-, and "arious other



fields# Chefs, mechanics, construction workers, and chemists are not tauht the fine details of business

eti.uette and communication# /hy, then, do we belie"e that software de"elopers intrinsically need such

knowlede

The second point, that de"elopers need business knowlede so that they can work as freelancers

effecti"ely, is also irrele"ant# uthors also ha"e the option of bein freelance workers# Criminal ustice

students may choose to pursue work as freelance detecti"es pri"ate in"estiators-# This does not mean

that 'nlish and Criminal ustice are &business fields(# 3t simply means that, if one wishes to work as a

freelancer, one should be familiar with self%employed ta$ation laws# o special course is needed for

this* such knowlede can be ained readily and .uickly from books that are likely at a i"en city5s

public library# Furthermore, the arument that freelance work can become somethin more business%

oriented, such as becomin a business leader like 6ark 7uckerber or +ill 8ates, is also irrele"ant# The

minute a de"eloper decides to become a business leader, they decide to i"e up Computer Science# This

work is deleated to other people so that they can focus on business administration#

The third point is somewhat ridiculous when e$amined more closely# '"entually, e"eryone or

near e"eryone- in e"ery field or near e"ery field- will need to prepare a resume, send in an application

letter, and list references# nyone lookin for a career should assume that these thins will be re.uired#

3f these re.uirements make the field a &business field(, then e"ery field with the e$ception of menial

labor- is a &business field(# This is, of course, not the case, so the third point is irrele"ant#

The fourth, and final, point is somewhat more difficult to refute# 3t is true that de"elopers, in

their capacity as leader of the de"elopment team, will need what many call &business skills(# 9owe"er,

3 belie"e that these skills do not necessitate the takin of e$tra courses for the sole purpose of learnin

them# Leadership and communication can be learned on one5s own, and can be implemented effecti"ely

enouh in the field without formal education concernin them# Furthermore, deleation flows from

communication and leadership, so it should not be difficult for a competent indi"idual with both of

these skills to deleate tasks to prorammers#



ow, you may ask, e"en if associatin Computer Science with business is illoical, why is it

impractical or harmful The answer to this .uestion is three%fold# First, the emphasis upon business

within the Computer Science curriculum at many uni"ersities forces the student to di"ide his or her

mind between these two unrelated fields of study# Second, the emphasis upon business allows harmful

business%related attitudes to seep into the Computer Science student5s ideoloy# Finally, the emphasis

upon the supposedly close relation between Computer Science and business is merely an attempt to

make business seem more important than it really is by associatin it with a sensationali)ed field#

The most important reason that the association of Computer Science with business interests is

harmful is that this association unfairly increases the difficulty of obtainin a Computer Science

education# Students who attend uni"ersities that associate Computer Science with business are forced to

learn business%related topics, which are often difficult to master, alon with their Computer Science

studies# The re.uirement of learnin these topics forces the student to di"ide his or her mind between

Computer Science and business# Computer Science is difficult to master, especially in its ad"anced

staes, so this di"ision of attention is "ery performance%inhibitin#

This di"ision of the mind may e"en persist into the student5s career# 3f this occurs, the student

may bein to aspire to lead a company and amass wealth rather than continue bein a de"eloper# 3 ha"e

already e$plained that if a decision to pursue this aspiration is made, the person must necessarily i"e

up Computer Science# There is nothin wron with this, but it may inhibit their ability to produce

.uality software if they are distracted enouh by it and continue de"elopment work anyway#

Furthermore, it is always somewhat sad to see a reat prorammer like 8ates or 7uckerber forced to

deleate prorammin work to others# 3t would ha"e been interestin to see what they could produce

had they remained prorammers#

Second, the association of Computer Science with business allows some harmful nuets of

business%related &con"entional wisdom( to be interated into the Computer Science student5s mentality#

For e$ample, the e$treme emphasis upon networkin often implicitly, and, in some cases, e$plicitly,



leads to an espousin of the &it5s who you know, not what you know( attitude# This mentality is a

disustin e$ample of institutional &crony capitalism(, which downplays skills and puts far too much

emphasis on connections 3 am aware that &crony capitalism( refers to o"ernment policy, but 3 belie"e

it fits rather well in this situation as well-#

Students should certainly be made aware of the emphasis on connections in the business world,

but they should not be e$posed to professors who praise it, because, to put it simply, these professors

are wron# The emphasis on connections must be prepared for by students, but it should ne"er be

praised* it must be condemned# Frankly, if a Computer Science student cannot et a !ob with only their

skills to speak for them, then there are two possibilities* either this student is simply not ood enouh,

or, far more likely, there is somethin "ery wron with the hirin system in most cases, &crony

capitalism(-# This state of affairs threatens not only Computer Science, but e"ery other field of

employment as well# 3t must end#

Finally, the association of business with Computer Science is harmful because it makes society

think about business in an illoical way# Computer Science is a sensationali)ed field, with many people

bein enticed into it despite not ha"in the necessary skills# This sensationali)ation is likely due to the

lare amount of influence computin has on the modern world# +usiness is likely attemptin to

associate itself with Computer Science not because there is any loical point of association, but rather

because association with such a sensational field helps business5s reputation in the eyes of the people# 3t

makes business appear to be more important than it really is# 3f such an important field as Computer

Science is merely a subdi"ision of the business field, then, of course, business must be close to the

center of society#

e"er mind that many Computer Scientists work for the public sector, helpin to pro"ide us

with reater national defense and makin the administration of our social prorams easier# This

relationship will ne"er be played up by businesses because it is in their societal and political interest to

maintain that business is more important than o"ernment# Furthermore, they will ne"er i"e emphasis



applications# For e$ample, eff twood, the creator of the software de"elopment blo &Codin 9orror(,

published an article in 200; that declared &ll <rorammin is /eb <rorammin(# =nfortunately,

many in the Computer Science community seem to ha"e a similar opinion, which is disturbin, first

and foremost, because of how illoical it is# /eb application de"elopment is not, and can not e"er be,

the most important type of de"elopment for one simple reason* systems software e$ists# Systems

software, which includes operatin systems, de"ice dri"ers, interated de"elopment en"ironments,

compilers, interpreters, and other tools, is, always has been, and always will be the most important type

of software# Furthermore, systems software will ne"er be web%based# 3ts "ery nature makes this

unfeasible and, more likely than not, downriht impossible#

This "ery lare focus on web%based application de"elopment isn5t !ust illoical* it is harmful# 3t

damaes Computer Science students, the Computer Science industry, and the end users of all kinds of

computer%industry oods# The student is harmed because the increased focus on web de"elopment

means that they will learn less about desktop and systems software prorammin# Some uni"ersities

may e"en decide to no loner teach C or ssembly Lanuae, deemin them &unimportant lanuaes(

in liht of the new era of web apps and ob!ect%oriented prorammin# For students who aspire to work

in systems software de"elopment, this would be "ery sad because it would depri"e them of the tools

necessary for the !ob# Furthermore, the Computer Science industry would be harmed by the lack of

skilled prorammers interested in desktop and systems software de"elopment# Finally, the end user is

harmed because the desktop and systems software runnin on their de"ices would not be as hih%

.uality as it should be#

3n short, web%based application de"elopment does deser"e a ood deal of focus because it is

"ital in the new &internet ae( and is, in many cases, easier than systems, or e"en desktop, software

de"elopment# 9owe"er, we must remember that the desktop is still the host to a "ariety of useful

applications# Furthermore, systems software will always be e$tremely important, as it reulates

e"erythin that applications software does# Thus, desktop and systems software de"elopment need to



recei"e enouh focus in uni"ersities that workers in these areas can continue producin .uality

software#

The final institutional problem that confronts modern Computer Science is the hih%profile

career or educational &e"anelism( that sensationali)es Computer Science by encourain e"eryone to

learn to write code# This is a problem for three reasons# First, it is "ery illoical# Second, it depri"es

other industries of employees who would be more useful in them than in the Computer Science field#

Finally, it obstructs the inter"iew process for Computer Science !ob openins, and can reduce the

.uality of software de"elopment#

First, the idea that e"eryone should learn to write code is illoical# The main arument for this

re.uirement is that it would impro"e students5 critical thinkin skills, makin them more intellient in

all fields# 9owe"er, learnin basic prorammin does not really re.uire a reat deal of critical thinkin,

at least not more than does 6ath or 'nlish# >ariables, loops, and arrays are essentially 6ath%based,

and so do not enerate e$tra benefit in addition to 6ath# Furthermore, conditionals are "ery simple,

eneratin little, if any, critical thinkin impro"ement# 3t is only when relati"ely ad"anced topics

functions, user%defined classes, pointer arithmetic, alorithm analysis, etc#- are co"ered that critical

thinkin really comes into play# These topics are likely too ad"anced to teach to non%Computer%

Science%ma!ors, howe"er, so they would not benefit the critical thinkin of these students#

&Code '"anelism( is also illoical because it is unnecessary# There is a pre"alent arument

that, because our society is increasinly reliant on the use of computers, we should know, with a

reasonable amount of detail, how these de"ices work# +ut this arument is faulty# Certainly, the "ast

ma!ority of us need to know how to use a computer, its applications, and the internet# +ut do we need to

know how these thins work internally, or how to construct or proram them oursel"es o, we do not#

'"er since the ad"ent of the personal computer, we ha"e been usin our de"ices !ust fine without

knowin anythin about prorammin# To suest otherwise would be to inore all the proress we

ha"e made in the area of computer usability# 3n short, prorammers proram to ensure that the eneral



populace doesn5t ha"e to proram their apps in order to use them# Similarly, they don5t need to be

plumbers to use toilets or sureons to take care of their bodies# They lea"e plumbin, surery, and

prorammin to plumbers, sureons, and prorammers, as they should#

Second, &Code '"anelism( draws people away from other important fields where workers are

needed# The world needs doctors, sureons, plumbers, farmers, manaers, and "arious other

occupations to thri"e# 3f people who would do well in one of these fields, and not in Computer Science,

but is enticed into Computer Science anyway because of &Code '"anelism(, then they do society a

disser"ice by not pursuin their comparati"e ad"antae# Speciali)ation based on comparati"e

ad"antae, alon with trade between roups with different comparati"e ad"antaes, is what makes

economies and societies succeed# This is certainly preferable to a society that tries to pump up one

field5s employment at the e$pense of other important fields#

Finally, &Code '"anelism( attracts people who are, frankly, terrible at codin into the

Computer Science field# These people obstruct the inter"iew process when !ob openin occur for

prorammin work# This situation has e"idently become so commonplace that inter"iewers are forced

to administer a basic prorammin test to their applicants, enerally somethin alon &Fi))bu))( lines

Fi))bu)) is a proram that displays the numbers 1 throuh 100, but displays &Fi))( if the number is

di"isible by ?, &+u))( if it is di"isible by @, and &Fi))bu))( if it is di"isible by both ? and @-# +ein

able to write basic code should be a i"en, but with the ad"ent of &Code '"anelism(, and the resultant

sure in applicants who ha"e no business prorammin at all, this is no loner the case# Furthermore, if

one of these terrible prorammers manaes to et hired, he or she will likely reatly reduce the .uality

of their company5s software#

3n conclusion, modern Computer Science is plaued by three institutional problems* its

association with business, the fer"or o"er web%based application de"elopment, and &Code

'"anelism(# 'ach of these thins is, when analy)ed, found to be illoical# Furthermore, each is

harmful in its own ways# The association with business is harmful because it unfairly di"ides students5



and employees5 attention, normali)es &crony capitalism( in the eyes of prorammers, and ser"es to

unfairly increase business5s societal and political le"erae# The fer"or o"er web%based application

de"elopment is harmful because it decreases the .uality of systems and desktop software# Finally,

&Code '"anelism( is harmful because it pre"ents society from effecti"ely utili)in its citi)ens5

comparati"e ad"antaes and entices unskilled prorammers into the software de"elopment field# 3t is

my hope that indi"iduals connected to the Computer Science field can find a way to resol"e these

issues#

problems with cs essay

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