[game_edu] watered down CS programs

[Ian Schreiber]

>I must say that I mostly agree with that you are saying. But, is there 
>really no room for vocational oriented training?
>
>What do other's think?

I don't think the article is advocating a complete lack of vocational
training; it admits that senior-level "practicum" classes are acceptable
and even desired. (I would agree; if current technology will be obsolete
two or three years from now, teaching it to a freshman won't help them
at all... But teaching it to a senior would certainly be useful.)

Personally, I'm frustrated by the opposite extreme most universities
seem to take in their core academic programs: teach pure, abstract CS
without giving students any clue as to how this stuff is actually used
in the real world. Every software company I've been at for the last ten
years has used some version of Microsoft Visual Studio; there's no
excuse for sending college CS graduates out into the world without at
least introducing them to the concept of an IDE, or source code control.

I haven't looked closely at any curricula for "game programming"
specific majors, but it's possible that some of them are in danger of
swinging too far the other way, teaching only current skills and none of
the basics. A balance needs to be struck between the two extremes, but I
think that's the case for most academic disciplines (game-related or
not).

Ian