Re: For all students: home work questions...a template

Kenny McCormack wrote
(in article <dhhmt0$evq$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>):

> In article <0001HW.BF60DF60021E213EF0488550@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> Randy Howard <randyhoward@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> ...
>> "Hey, I have been wondering for a while if it is possible to
>> "frob the muffler bearing in C while standing on one leg. This
>> isn't a homework problem, so spare me. It's just pure
>> coincidence that I ask a question after years of experience that
>> only a first semester C student would want to be asking and has
>> no practical purpose in the universe other than amuse teaching
>> assistants in lower division courses."
>
> Very good. Spot on! You've got their number.

Unfortunately.

>> Ahhh, great, not a homework problem. Let's all rush to answer
>> it. *sigh*
>
> You can always reel in a few.

I am sometimes surprised at the names included in that set.

>> I'm routinely disappointed at how transparent some of the
>> attempts are, yet folks chime in and cough up pages of code in
>> response. If they lie enough in the intro, nobody ever says
>> "but post what you have so far first". Just bear in mind that
>> in a few years, the software you will be downloading onto your
>> computer will be written by one of these people that steals
>> everything they do and has no idea why it works, or even if it
>> does work at all.
>
> You mean that hasn't happened already?

Excellent point. I'm sure it has happened before, simply
because it has been happening here long enough that some of them
may have accidentally discovered a way to pass the final exams
without consulting Usenet for the answers during the test
itself. There has also been enough time for them to be hired
and make it through one or more development cycles before being
fired for incompetence. Windows seems to be the de facto
indicator of its likelihood. :-)

> But yes, it will only get worse.

Why contribute to such an undeserving cause? I suspect it has
more to do with flexing the C muscles in front of an admiring
audience than helping the cheating students.



--
Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)

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