Re: port I/O abstraction macros


"Le Chaud Lapin" <unoriginal_username@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1149611490.357297.11420@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I know of at least 3 technical universities that will not let you get a
B.S.E.E. without knowing how to write a compiler, and will not let you
get a B.S.C.S without knowing how to design an FM radio. The idea is
to quash any possibility that you might subsequently misrepresent your
university as an idiot who cannot divide a number by 32 using
bit-shifting.

I did a compiler design module as part of my course but the lecturer was a
bit horny for lexical analysis and the entire course was spent on English
linguistics. Of course, I'd heard this before hand and the only reason I
took the course is because the same exam questions are asked year after year
;-)

I see little point in graduating knowing how to write a compiler or design
an FM radio unless you are directly going into Sony's Radio Compiler
division. Knowing what a compiler does and the sort of tricks current
optimisers play will be more useful in the real world than knowing how to
parse an arithmetic expression. Similarly knowing about RF, demodulation and
amplifiers is more useful to the real world than an rudimentary FM radio
kit.

I think it is more important for someone to leave university understanding
why it is important to optimise integer division rather than just have a
tool box of techniques - they will learn those on the job. Of course, if the
chap then fails to understand how the shifting works once he's been shown it
then he has probably not grasped the most important skill from university -
learning how to learn.


.

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