I don't regret having a solid five year head-start on my peers when I got to university.
Let's be very clear about this: I had the exact same head-start when I hit university, despite pursuing all the other stuff. I even was waived my entire first year of CS courses, based on my background in programming.
somehow skirt-chasing doesn't quite set you up for the future.[/quote]
Perhaps not, but social skills do. Chasing girls seems to be the major motivator for developing social skills at that age, so I used it as an example. Computer club (or, god forbid, Chess club) might work just as well for another person.
I also dislike the suggestion that you should strive to be normal[/quote]
Sitting in the basement, hunched over a linux box is any less stereotypical? Please.
The way I see it, doing is the single most important force we have, and you're almost never too young to start doing what you are passionate about.[/quote]
Riddle me this: how do you know, at age 14, that computers are, with absulolute certainty, the one-and-only thing you are ever going to be passionate about? Especially if you have never tried anything else.
Because you know what? I'm very passionate about computers. But I'm also passionate about sailing, playing guitar, discovering import ciders, and let's face it, chasing redheads. And I never would have experience all those things, if I had locked myself in a room with my computer.
I guess my bottom line, is that if you are only passionate about one thing in your life, then I pity you very deeply.
I learned it one hell of a lot more efficiently once I got to university (I think a side-effect of having better thought-out goals by that age)
Actually, that probably has more to do with the development of your brain. In my psychology class the teacher had almost an entire class devoted to showing that the human mind is at its peak from ages 20 -25. Before this the mind is too fluid to form truly complex concepts. After that point the mind slowly gets so rigid it becomes harder and harder to learn new concepts.
Actually, that probably has more to do with the development of your brain. In my psychology class the teacher had almost an entire class devoted to showing that the human mind is at its peak from ages 20 -25. Before this the mind is too fluid to form truly complex concepts. After that point the mind slowly gets so rigid it becomes harder and harder to learn new concepts.
While I don't doubt this for more general topics, in the US CS education sucks in high school. It's probably just as much to do with him not being surrounded with anyone who really has a deep knowledge of CS on a regular basis. When you go from having a teacher who took a couple CS classes in university but primarily teaches math for 1 hour a day and compare that with having 5 professors with a doctorate in CS who're constantly doing research on the topic you're probably going to gain more just from that.
In the case of math, high school can get some very good teachers, but CS is just an afterthought for most schools. I think even art has higher standards in high school.
[quote name='SteveDeFacto' timestamp='1323622945' post='4892829']
Actually, that probably has more to do with the development of your brain. In my psychology class the teacher had almost an entire class devoted to showing that the human mind is at its peak from ages 20 -25. Before this the mind is too fluid to form truly complex concepts. After that point the mind slowly gets so rigid it becomes harder and harder to learn new concepts.
While I don't doubt this for more general topics, in the US CS education sucks in high school. It's probably just as much to do with him not being surrounded with anyone who really has a deep knowledge of CS on a regular basis. When you go from having a teacher who took a couple CS classes in university but primarily teaches math for 1 hour a day and compare that with having 5 professors with a doctorate in CS who're constantly doing research on the topic you're probably going to gain more just from that.
In the case of math, high school can get some very good teachers, but CS is just an afterthought for most schools. I think even art has higher standards in high school.
[/quote]
Why does that matter? I never even went to school and picked up programming on my own. The internet has all of the information you could ever want on programming.
[quote name='way2lazy2care' timestamp='1323626652' post='4892848']
While I don't doubt this for more general topics, in the US CS education sucks in high school. It's probably just as much to do with him not being surrounded with anyone who really has a deep knowledge of CS on a regular basis. When you go from having a teacher who took a couple CS classes in university but primarily teaches math for 1 hour a day and compare that with having 5 professors with a doctorate in CS who're constantly doing research on the topic you're probably going to gain more just from that.
In the case of math, high school can get some very good teachers, but CS is just an afterthought for most schools. I think even art has higher standards in high school.
Why does that matter?
[/quote]
For the same reason that owning a textbook is not the same as taking a course. Having access to knowledge is a very small part of learning in my experience.
[quote name='SteveDeFacto' timestamp='1323702023' post='4893120']
[quote name='way2lazy2care' timestamp='1323626652' post='4892848']
While I don't doubt this for more general topics, in the US CS education sucks in high school. It's probably just as much to do with him not being surrounded with anyone who really has a deep knowledge of CS on a regular basis. When you go from having a teacher who took a couple CS classes in university but primarily teaches math for 1 hour a day and compare that with having 5 professors with a doctorate in CS who're constantly doing research on the topic you're probably going to gain more just from that.
In the case of math, high school can get some very good teachers, but CS is just an afterthought for most schools. I think even art has higher standards in high school.
Why does that matter?
[/quote]
For the same reason that owning a textbook is not the same as taking a course. Having access to knowledge is a very small part of learning in my experience.
[/quote]
Just having the text book can be far better than taking the course. This entirely depends on you and your willingness to take the time to read the text book and practice the skills in it.
My high school had half programming and half hanging out. Though I didn't hang out with the 'popular' kids, but I never wanted to hang out with them anyway. I had my share of ditching classes, partying, gf, and all that.
My anti-social didn't begin to kick in until freshman college when I try to catch up with programming, though I reversed that during junior and senior year.
My biggest regret I didn't do in high school? Not finding anybody else passionate about game programming.. :/
Opinions. People are allowed them and you are suggested to respect them, whether or not you agree with them.
Be happy in who you are and don't let other people opinions belittle you.
I for one wished that I had done more programming in my high school years so that I had more time at university to get further ahead. I hear about people who have been programming since they were in their early teens and I'm jealous of those. All I can do now is try my best to get where I want to be.
My school years were pretty pants, had to move to a different part of the UK when I was in year 10 (second to last year of school) and subsequently I didn't have many friends at my new school so did tend to spend alot of time inside on the computer, though I did find time for the normal going out at the weekends to a mates house and getting drunk on half a bottle of White Lightening. When I went to College I still spent a lot of time on the computer, but as I was doing a BTEC in Software development I think this was acceptable.
I have never wished I was back in school and I don't think I wasted my youth because I wasn't out playing sport or chasing girls (much). I'm of the opinion that most people who bang on about your school years being the best years of your life are normally the people who have ended up in a rut in a job they don't enjoy and don't want to put any effort into making their lives more interesting.
What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared, to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heartrending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottom of his training shoes.
Here's a crazy idea: lead a great life in your youth and in your adult life! D:
"I will personally burn everything I've made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames."
~ Gabe
"I don't mean to rush you but you are keeping two civilizations waiting!"
~ Cavil, BSG.
"If it's really important to you that other people follow your True Brace Style, it just indicates you're inexperienced. Go find something productive to do."
[size=2]~ Bregma
"Well, you're not alone.
There's a club for people like that. It's called Everybody and we meet at the bar[size=2]."
