[plug] Uni Course - UWA or Curtin?

[Bill Kenworthy]

Another point you might like to consider.  Many "older" types dont like
the way teaching is done at Curtin (or UWA).  The teaching methods are
aimed at the age group that have just left school.  Nothing wrong with
that, it works, but the last figures I saw showed 5% curtin as mature
aged whilst approx 50% at Murdoch where the environment is better suited
to the different requirements of this group.  I dont think its so much
"one course is better than the other", but what method and environment
you will learn in best.  To be acredited, each degree must meet the same
criteria, the rest is marketing, approach to teaching, image etc.  Then
there's the "old school tie" effect which is where UWA is currently top
of the heap, but that seems to be diluting these days.

And yes, there's plent of Linux (and SUN's if you want) at Murdoch when
required - depends on the subjects/streams you are undertaking.

BillK

ps: any cracks about my mature age will be met by loud 70's music!

On Sat, 2001-11-17 at 16:55, Adrian Woodley wrote:
>  From memory , the point isn't to teach you as many languages as 
> possible - its to teach you how to learn a language, design a program 
> and work in a team. They may teach you some basics of a couple of 
> languages, but you're really supposed to be able to RTFM and work it out 
> for yourself. This is especially true for Software Engineering, where 
> units such as Requirements Engineering and Software Engineering describe 
> the design process, but you don't touch any code at all. This is a 
> sensible way to do things as there is no one language that solves all 
> your problems and you never know when the next language may appear and 
> take hol in the market - if you've just spent 3 or 4 years learning Java 
> and suddenly everyone wants ADRIAN++ V2 then you're up the proverbial 
> creek, however if you've been taught how to read language documentation, 
> etc, then you'll be employable.
> 
> Regards,
> Adrian
> 
> PS Curtin Curtin Curtin, Yay Yay Yay! :)
> 
> PPS Curtin has CoMA which compares to UCC, although it doesn't have all 
> the fun toys :)
> And the Curtin Tavern is second to none!
> 
> Jonathon Bates wrote:
> 
> >>So far we haven't done any Prolog or VB\VBA at Murdoch yet, and to be
> >>perfectly honest I have never heard of Haskell. 
> >>
> >
> >And you wont either. VB is a joke of a langauge and completely not
> >necessary.
> >
> >>We do use C++ and the
> >>STL in our data structures unit though, 
> >>
> >
> >We only use C++ in one unit and thats it. Which IMHO is sad as it is so
> >much a better programming langauge than Java <flame proof retardent at the
> >ready>.
> >
> >>and C\Java are the main
> >>languages running through most units. 
> >>
> >
> >Wrong, Java is the only language it really wants to teach. There is one
> >first year unit with C (b106) and thats really it.
> >
> >>Murdoch also uses a number of the
> >>scripting languages you mentioned, and a 'by the way' look at XML, in
> >>the 2nd year Internet unit. 
> >>
> >
> >Javascript, and Perl is about it. Depending on your stream.
> >
> >
> >Cheers
> >batesy
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
>