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Why Learn Data Structures

Posted by: WingedPanther in Untagged on Jan 03, 2009

One of the "odd" things that happens when you are taking CS courses is that you will be required to take a course on data structures. You will get to do wonderful things like implement a linked list, a binary tree, a stack, and a queue. After you spend months cramming all this stuff into your brain, you will then move on to the real world (TM) and start programming for your daily bread.

In the

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What Every Student Needs To Learn

Posted by: WingedPanther in Untagged on Jan 01, 2009

Following up on Donovan's article, I thought I'd offer my take on what (US) students need to learn by certain grades.
1st grade) How to read and add/subtract single digit numbers
6th grade) long division, fractions, how to spell (by rote), able to do speed drills on all single digit arithmetic and double digit addition/subtraction.
9th grade) Algebra, chemistry, history, writing 5-page papers,

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Access Sucks

Posted by: WingedPanther in Untagged on Dec 18, 2008

Compared with both Oracle and SQL Server, Access is an absolute joke. The reason is because it was never intended to be an enterprise-class database. It was meant to be a support tool as part of the MS Office suite. It provides minor reporting, minor interfacing, and easy database design. It's a database for people who don't know how to use databases.

Here's where the problem comes: You are

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MS SQL Server vs Oracle

Posted by: WingedPanther in Untagged on Dec 18, 2008

Microsoft's SQL Server (I use 2000) and Oracle (I use 9i) are two of the best-known commercial databases, so an interesting question becomes, what's the difference? In some ways, not much. In others, a LOT. One of the major differences is the price, Enterprise is $24,999 for SQL Server vs $47,500 for Oracle. However, you have to realize that SQL Server requires a Windows machine to run,

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How to design a database

Posted by: WingedPanther in Untagged on Dec 17, 2008

Here's the first thing to understand: you are never designing a database in isolation. Before you can talk about designing a database, you have to design an application. The application will drive the design of the database, but there will be some impact in the other direction. So, to talk about designing a database, let's look at an example application: A forum.

Please be

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Why writing tutorials is good for you

Posted by: WingedPanther in Untagged on Dec 16, 2008

Writing tutorials, especially on topics you only feel about 90% on, is a wonderful thing to do. The reason I say this is simple: you will learn as part of the process. As an example, when I initially wrote the fuzzyset implementation, I did it as a template. I quickly realized I was having problems and backed off to the string-based version (following a recommendation in one of my books).

I

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How to write documentation

Posted by: WingedPanther in Untagged on Dec 15, 2008

I'm going to introduce you to two wonderful flowcharting programs. The first is dia, the second is Dynamic Draw. Dia is a great program modelled after Visio that is cross-platform. It has an intuitive interface. If you read the documentation, however, you find relatively few diagrams. By contrast, Dynamic Draw is a Windows-only program with documentation that appears to be machine-translated

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How to talk with non programmers

Posted by: WingedPanther in Untagged on Dec 15, 2008

One of the best ways to create massive piles of frustration is for a programmer to attempt to communicate with a non-programmer. This happens for a very simple reason: programmers have this unreasoning refusal to take a general description of what is desired and make it happen. After all, the details can be ironed out later.

OK, being a little more serious: programmers and non-programmers come

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What makes a programmer?

Posted by: WingedPanther in Untagged on Dec 13, 2008

This question comes up in a variety of ways, from students in a programming class trying to figure out the key to being successful, to programmers trying to figure out why they seem to be different, to programming teachers trying to figure out how to steer their students in the right direction. Here's my take on the question.

1) A programmer is a person who can think in detail. One of the marks

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Programming is a Branch of Mathematics

Posted by: WingedPanther in Untagged on Dec 12, 2008

I've used this as part of my sig for a while now, and thought I'd explain why I use it. As most readers will know by now, I've got a Master's in Math, and studied logic/set theory. This tells you that I 1) am biased, and 2) know an above-average amount of math.

Alan Turing is the father of programming. A British mathematician, he came up with the concept of a device that consisted of an

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