Author |
Topic: Software Development as a Spectator Sport (Read 679 times) |
|
towr
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Some people are average, some are just mean.
Gender: 
Posts: 13730
|
 |
Re: Software Development as a Spectator Sport
« Reply #1 on: Jun 23rd, 2005, 2:21am » |
 Quote  Modify
|
I think it has about as much chance as making chess a spectator sport.
It'll be exciting to a select few, but there won't be enough spectators to make it a spectator sport. Programming itself simply isn't that spectacular.
There is a subcategory that might somewhat work. Engineering isn't a spectator sport either, but robotwars/battlebots for example is. The programming equivalent might be writing AI's for fighting in virtual worlds, or for controling battlebots.
Of course then it's still not the programming people watch for, least of all programming user applications.
|
|
 IP Logged |
Wikipedia, Google, Mathworld, Integer sequence DB
|
|
|
amichail
Senior Riddler
Posts: 450
|
|
Re: Software Development as a Spectator Sport
« Reply #2 on: Jun 23rd, 2005, 2:53am » |
Quote Modify
|
How can we give the general public a deeper understanding of CS?
I think one of the reasons CS enrollment is low is because people don't really understand what it is all about. In fact, the field does not have a good image at all.
From an article entitled "The Thrill is Gone?":
"Computer science is one of the most exciting scientific endeavors in recent history. Too bad so few have been exposed to the thrill. We argue below that, in order for computer science to thrive, its "story" needs to be told to the outside world (especially high schoolers, parents, teachers, policymakers, and the popular media) in a manner that keeps the science and the exciting ideas at center stage... Part of the problem is the lack of consensus in the public at large on what computer science actually is. The Advanced Placement test is mostly about Java, which hurts the field by reducing it to programming [3]. High school students know that the wild, exotic beasts of physics (black holes, antimatter, Big Bang) all roam the land of a deep science. But who among them are even aware that the Internet and Google also arose from an underlying science? Their list of computing "Greats" probably begins with Bill Gates and ends with Steve Jobs."
http://theorymatters.org/documents/arorachazelle.pdf
|
|
IP Logged |
DropZap - a new kind of block elimination game
|
|
|
Barukh
Uberpuzzler
Gender:
Posts: 2276
|
|
Re: Software Development as a Spectator Sport
« Reply #3 on: Jun 23rd, 2005, 10:56am » |
Quote Modify
|
on Jun 23rd, 2005, 2:53am, amichail wrote:| How can we give the general public a deeper understanding of CS? |
|
How can we give the general public a deeper understanding of Mathematics?
Quote:| I think one of the reasons CS enrollment is low is because people don't really understand what it is all about. In fact, the field does not have a good image at all. |
|
There are domains that are intrinsically less attractive than others. Somehow, people discuss much more easily politics and sport than CS and Math.
Quote:| From an article entitled "The Thrill is Gone?": |
|
The paper is very interesting!
|
|
IP Logged |
|
|
|
amichail
Senior Riddler
Posts: 450
|
|
Re: Software Development as a Spectator Sport
« Reply #4 on: Jun 23rd, 2005, 2:54pm » |
Quote Modify
|
on Jun 23rd, 2005, 10:56am, Barukh wrote:
How can we give the general public a deeper understanding of Mathematics?
There are domains that are intrinsically less attractive than others. Somehow, people discuss much more easily politics and sport than CS and Math.
The paper is very interesting!
|
|
Does physics have a better image? If so, why?
|
|
IP Logged |
DropZap - a new kind of block elimination game
|
|
|
towr
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Some people are average, some are just mean.
Gender:
Posts: 13730
|
|
Re: Software Development as a Spectator Sport
« Reply #5 on: Jun 23rd, 2005, 3:47pm » |
Quote Modify
|
I think most sciences suffer from public desinterest.
The low number of student coming in has been a problem here for years. CS is probably doing better than most here.
|
|
IP Logged |
Wikipedia, Google, Mathworld, Integer sequence DB
|
|
|
Grimbal
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Gender:
Posts: 7527
|
|
Re: Software Development as a Spectator Sport
« Reply #6 on: Jun 24th, 2005, 1:33am » |
Quote Modify
|
If you look at the movies, you realize that CS is not spectacular. They have to add all these silly computer graphics to make it suitable for a large audience.
|
|
IP Logged |
|
|
|
|
RIDDLES SITE
WRITE MATH!
Home 
Help 
Search 
Members 
Login 
Register
Reply
Notify of replies
Send Topic
Print