Education
Author
I saw some messages about studying computers stuff and a college degree opening doors... Just something, all the things related to computers change SOOO fast that when you spend like 5 years at college when you come out most of what you''ve learned is obsolete, of course there are a few things that never change but most of the subjects are old by the time you finish. Assembly language to optimize for speed n size, gone. DOS prompt, gone. Output to the ports, gone for applications programming. So if someone has a degree, even from last year, if the person knows everything that''s needed to make a game or if only knows old stuff it''s all up to the person, the college degree doesn''t really say too much. Just as an example, imagine the average time for college in 5 or 6 years, Windows 95 and DirectX appeared just 5 years and 7 monthes ago.
I agree that what is being taught in college now will be obsolete, but I don''t think a degree will be useless. A degree will say that you have the ability to learn in this field. You can say the same thing for many degree''s, it''s just the way it is. I doubt that you will have success getting a job at many companies without one.
The point of college isn''t to learn specific topics like DirectX or OpenGL, it''s to learn how to program. Linked lists, trees, graphs, OOP concepts, the software development process, and so on. If you take a course on computer graphics, it probably won''t be using any particular API ... it will be on the fundamental algorithms behind all graphics APIs - lines, shapes, curves, rasterization, 3d projection, transformations, etc.
Martee
Magnum Games.NET
All your code are belong to us.
Martee
Magnum Games.NET
All your code are belong to us.
I took a course in 3d graphics, we learned all the math behind the graphics pipeline and some of the rendering stuff. We also made numerous programs using GLUT and OpenGL. But I would say that the most important thing college teaches you is not in the cirriclum. The things I learned in college where not so tangible.
Taking pride in my work and doing my best at everything. Being able to take large projects, systematically break them down and complete them by the specified deadline. The ability to focus and learn things that wern''t in my primary interests. The ability to solve problems analitically and rationally. Self confidance in knowing I''ve had to learn some pretty intellectual stuff (Artificial Neural Networks) and implement it (I implemented a backpropigation nerual network from scratch). Knowing that If called to, I can solve other difficult problems in the future.
That is the value I found in my education. Doesn''t really matter what the degree is, it''s the fact that you finished it. Kinda like how allmost no one ever finishes an independant game. It''s not the fact that your game is cutting edge, infact all the tecnology in it is probably obsolete. What makes it so cool, and so valuable is that you actually finished it. It''s what you learned along the way that makes you proud. You dont care if it''s competing with the Unreal2 engine or the doom3 engine. The fact is you finished it and you learned a heck of alot doing it.
Game coding is alot like school that way.
Iron
Taking pride in my work and doing my best at everything. Being able to take large projects, systematically break them down and complete them by the specified deadline. The ability to focus and learn things that wern''t in my primary interests. The ability to solve problems analitically and rationally. Self confidance in knowing I''ve had to learn some pretty intellectual stuff (Artificial Neural Networks) and implement it (I implemented a backpropigation nerual network from scratch). Knowing that If called to, I can solve other difficult problems in the future.
That is the value I found in my education. Doesn''t really matter what the degree is, it''s the fact that you finished it. Kinda like how allmost no one ever finishes an independant game. It''s not the fact that your game is cutting edge, infact all the tecnology in it is probably obsolete. What makes it so cool, and so valuable is that you actually finished it. It''s what you learned along the way that makes you proud. You dont care if it''s competing with the Unreal2 engine or the doom3 engine. The fact is you finished it and you learned a heck of alot doing it.
Game coding is alot like school that way.
Iron
Author
Those words Ironside are inspiring, or in my condition depressing, I'm interested only in physics so it has nothing to do with computers but I'm sure that studying physics at college in a civilized country would be like that, like getting completely into a subject which in the case of physics for me would be lovely... Too bad that I'm in a third world country (argentina) with no education and that I cannot afford to go to study in a civilized country and there're no scholarships for foreigners so I'm doomed to learn on my own and good books are expensive and in the internet there's no real information but it's still lovely. I hate argentina. Free college for all!!! Of course physics is not related in any way to getting a job, it's just that I love it, that stuff you wrote about computers is how I feel about physics, it would be so great to be in a physics environment and even working really hard in physics related stuff... Well, I'm gonna have to learn on my own, I learned always on my own due to geographical location and I made a videogame of 18000 lines in assembly language on my own, no one liked it but I did it my way. It would be really nice if someday we could have (at least in the civilized countries) free college for everybody including a place to stay while studying plus money for basic needs. Anyway there's people starving to death in Africa so I can't complain... A LOT OF LOVE,
Roman Arce
Edited by - roman arce on March 15, 2001 3:13:18 AM
Roman Arce
Edited by - roman arce on March 15, 2001 3:13:18 AM
Pretty sure we covered this in a long thread about 1-2 months ago ?
College/University is about the theory and techniques.. not the current syntax, method''s etc.
College/University is about the theory and techniques.. not the current syntax, method''s etc.
I pay $1200 americian a quarter, $3,600 a year total. It''s definatly not "Free College for all" as some might suspect
Same in Austria, all schools and unis are free, but you can forget studying anything technical. (which is the reason why I''ll be studying in Britain)
- JQ
Infiltration: Losing Ground
"You just don''t understand. Guys have to be immature and stupid. It''s some biological thing. It helps us hunt and gather and stuff." -Nazrix
- JQ
Infiltration: Losing Ground
"You just don''t understand. Guys have to be immature and stupid. It''s some biological thing. It helps us hunt and gather and stuff." -Nazrix
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement