Re: Guessing?

paul c <toledobysea@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

Gene Wirchenko wrote:
paul c <toledobysea@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

[snip]

(Here on the west coast of Canada, there must be a couple of hundred
thousand students attending degree-granting institutions within a 30
mile radius from where I live. Only one of the big universities here
has any edition of that important book in its library, just one copy at
that and apparently it has rarely if ever been signed out. What does
that tell you?)

That you probably live in Vancouver? Or Greater Vancouver.

Hello from Kamloops.

Hello yourself. I think I passed through there in '68, had some fun but
seem to remember the summer was hot and I guess the winters are cold.

Oh, no, found out!

Anyway, I was wrong about only one school around 'lesser' Vancouver
having the book, another (UBC) has the second edition only. Obviously
nobody there read that one either, otherwise they would have obtained
the third edition, presumably they could have got it free. The public
libraries here have mostly the 'dummies' books, same as bigger cities
like Toronto, just fewer in total. Somehow it seems telling that

That is my experience with public libraries.

I was in a bookstore on Saturday, and it did not have much other
than stuff for the masses. There was one very involved book by
Hawking: "God Created the Integers". I think they must have ordered
the two copies by mistake. It is too much for me yet, and I am
minoring in math.

[snip]

1) your 'elites' don't use public libraries anymore.

There is a lot on the Web. I am minoring in math, and I have
textbooks. I also have instructors to talk to. The joys of living
across the street from a university!

2) CS is now too 'big; a subject for one person to master, possibly DB
too and neither is perceived as 'elite'. whether this is legit is
another question - in the face of all the bumpf likely it's the rare
student who'll have the courage to broaden themselves by reading other
stuff, say Plato's Republic or learn to master enough English to make
themselves understood. i knew dozens of people with multiple CS or Math
degrees who had never heard of predicate calculus, couldn't spell, let

I do not know ENOUGH predicate calculus. I can spell.

alone express one idea in a five hundred words which Codd could do even
if he was wrong here and there.

I can write.

These skills are not nearly as common as I would like.

3) since cities and schools have only crap libraries now, I may as well
go live in a trailer park, nothing against Kamloops but my crummy
circulation prefers to be near the coast.

I prefer the drier climate myself. Chacun a son gout.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.
.

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