[Melbourne-pm] more thoughts on computer programming

[John Thornton]

       Hello
            I guess that I was not totally fair to Perl in another respect:

            There is no doubt to me that computer programming and computer
science has generic benefits of fostering clearer, more thorough thinking.
Such an enterprise is of course not new; Aristotle encouraged arithmetic to
help people's mental alertness. Thus the language in this regard does not
matter. It can be Perl, Java or even FORTRAN. I can already see the benefits
in everyday life from the little computer programming that I have done. I
leave no stone unturned in everyday life. If someone uses an adjective like
"relentless" then, rather like a boolean operator needing to compare
numbers, I ask "by what scale is it relentless??" :)

            In my opinion computer science is greatly underrated by society
as a generic boon for sharper thinking. It may say something about the
extroversion of society that communication such as law degrees are valued so
much in this regard; yet more introverted activities like programming are
not valued. From my experience law graduates are the WORST exponents of
clear thinking!! For instance this year I had a dispute with an academic who
teaches law at Melbourne Uni. I don't study law. I never have and never
will. I don't study at Melbourne University. But I was doing some
adjudication for school debates and this clown sent me the stupidest
expulsion letter to boot me from Debaters Association of Victoria. I have
seen better arguments from people in year 8. The guy is called Wayne Jocic
and I wrote back to him and said "if that's all a law degree does then good
riddance; you are a creep". 

           If clear thinking is a tennis match then computer science beats
any law faculty 6-0 6-0 6-0. No contest. 

            John