On Tue, 7 Dec 1999, Jenn V. wrote:
> 1. What's EECS?
Electrical Engineering/ Computer Science.
> 2. What's 'grad school'? (Bachelor's? Master's? Doctorate?)
Master's or Doctorate.
> 3. It was taught in my Bachelor's course (and taught, and drilled
> and trained...) to the point where it's reflexive to me. Give me
> a project with sufficient specs (formal or informal) and I have to
> sit down and at least /think/ things through, preferably sketch it
> with paper or keyboard, before I can sit down and program.
I should mention that my Bachelor's is NOT in computer science. In fact,
I avoided it rather carefully. When I would have started such a program
(oh, like 20 years ago), design wasn't really taught at that level. It is
now, but not as much as I think would be useful.
> Give me inadequate specs, and I can't do a thing short of bug people
> for more detail.
>
> I suspect that most people are like this to some degree, but .. <shrug>
You'd be amazed. :)
> 4. What use are formal design documents? Not a great deal - *once design
> is reflexive*. But they're great for teaching someone to design
> reflexively, and they can be very useful as a communication tool. (Here,
> look at this. This is how the program works.)
Agreed. For example, I think that Open Source projects done by
individuals will typically need less in the way of the design docs because
there is no specific budget. Thus we an eliminate those parts of the
typical spec that are the sales and finance pitch. :)
--
_Deirdre * http://www.linuxcabal.net * http://www.deirdre.net
My three rules for happy living: No Windows, No Java, No Perl.
"I'd love to have the green paint concession on the next Matrix movie."
-- Rick Moen
************
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