[SWLUG] Thanx

[Carter N.]

Hi all, and welcome Michael.

Quoting comments from a few recent messages:

>Actually I'm also a bit puzzled about why ICT courses are always based
around Windows.

I think it's simple pragmatism coupled with the ubiquity of Windows.
That said, Swansea's comp sci dept does have a lab of Linux machines.

>Does anyone actually use Windows Server?

We do, simply because Windows is the standard campus OS; it's too
time-consuming to keep up to speed with different Oses, despite my high
opinion of Linux.

>There used to be subjects such as data structures and algorithms, 
>which were removed
...
>I sure hope this situation is alien to other university's.

There is hope: our comp sci dept does take theory seriously and has
separate algorithm and data modules. Indeed, I've heard that first years
complain about the amount of maths, which doesn't seem /that/ advanced,
and programming (yes!) on the course. I gather some students thought
that programming meant making web sites and multimedia, and Media
Studies is a popular destination for students changing subjects.

>People went to uni not to do a science, but as a way of getting 
>into "a very well paying industry". 

I recall an article some years ago quoting an academic from an Ivy
League uni pointing out that the reduction in applicants to comp sci
courses after the dot com crash had its advantages in that the remaining
applicants were much more serious about the topic.

>On Outlook, I cannot see the actual email addresses I am sending to, 
>just some personal name in quote marks. 

I know what you mean, but I've found that non-technical computer users
are confused by the technical appearance of what we (technophiles)
consider quite obvious and informative. But, as Telsa suggested, hiding
the technicalities often results in the user being stumped when the
technology doesn't work they way they expected. For instance, people
email a person's other email address because the name was exactly the
same, and there are many other 'gotchas'. A common practice is for
people to keep one email from each of their correspondents rather than
than use the client's address book.

It makes me wonder whether there is a happy medium between technical
transparency and user friendliness.

Cheers,

Neil
--------------------------------------
Neil Carter      Psychology Department
Programmer       Swansea University
                 Wales, United Kingdom
+44 (0)1792 295610
http://psy.swansea.ac.uk/staff/Carter/