OSDev.org

So the school year just began for me and if there's one thing I found out about my computer science teacher, its that hes a total noob when it comes to computer science. I walk into class and I hear a discussion about operating systems. Windows is obviously the dominant player in the conversation while Mac is the second most dominant one. However, there is no mention about Linux or any other operating system (ok, I don't expect him to know about any others). So I raise my hand and ask him:

"Sir have you ever used Linux?"

And he replies no because he doesn't know what it is. Keep in mind that he is a computer science teacher in high school who knows (some) Java and nothing more. So, after hearing his 'no i dunt know becuz i am a nub' answer, I just shut my self up and exit the discussion taking place. What a pathetic teacher. Why don't they take some college graduate with a bachelor or masters in computer science and put him in front of the room instead of some re**** who doesn't know a thing about computers. Once again, pathetic.

Because a well educated college graduate wouldn't want to deal with "noob" students.

His response could have implied a dislike for Linux, I for example, don't like it at all... BSD is my personal choice.

Please start a blog, but don't post a link...

maybe it is because linux is not an operating system it is a shell that runs from dos

learn your facts

I wasn't aware that two trolls could share a bridge. One of you needs to move, and I propose the one that can answer these three questions gets to stay.

1) What... is your name?
2) What... is your quest?
3) What... is the air speed of an unladen swallow?

Not that I really think Brynet is a troll, but spreading mis-information like lollynoob is doing just begs of a "Don't feed the trolls" sign.

quok wrote:I wasn't aware that two trolls could share a bridge. One of you needs to move, and I propose the one that can answer these three questions gets to stay.

1) What... is your name?
2) What... is your quest?
3) What... is the air speed of an unladen swallow?

Not that I really think Brynet is a troll, but spreading mis-information like lollynoob is doing just begs of a "Don't feed the trolls" sign.

My name is Bryan.
I pursue no quests.
88 MPH!!

Did I win this game?

daBKLYNdoorman wrote:What a pathetic teacher.

If his field really is Computer Science, he might be a crack in Graph Theory, Computational Complexity Theory and Symbolic Mathematics while at the same time beating the living daylights out of you in Automata Theory and Computational Geometry as well as having forgotten more about Microarchitecture than you will ever learn.

None of this has anything to do with "knowing about Linux", and I don't think you should base your judgement of him on a discussion unrelated to his field of knowledge, pressed on him by other students who think "Computer Science" has anything to do with "keyboard skills".

Then again, you might be right and he is an absolute idiot, but not knowing about Linux isn't the litmus test for that.

"Sir have you ever used Linux?"

There are alot of existent operating systems that I know you have never used nor probably ever heard of as well. How can one be a "n00b" to computer science just because they have not used a type of operating system? Granted, Linux is one of the better operating systems next to Windows and Mac, but it fails to answer the previous question.

Knowing different types of operating systems is irrelevant to computer science and what it teaches so I would not consider that your instructor does not know anything based upon your above observation.

I think it was extremely rude on you part . First ,respect your teacher , however bad , never insult or make them feel bad . I know Computer Science graduates who are a lot worse . Atleast ,think before you act .The greatest thing a teacher can do is to inspire you for action and nothing else . Do not expect anyone to spoonfeed you , do not even expect anyone to teach you anything . You can learn anything if you truly have the desire to learn it ....

Regards
Sandeep

Don't feed the trolls...

I think I might just play trolls advocate here for a minute: (I've got an hour till class starts )

To become a teacher you spend some time in college and ideally to become a computer teacher your have to at least minor in Computer Science or equivalent. To do both of those and never hear of Linux is pretty weak I must say. My freshman Introduction to Programming (oh yea I'm learning tons from THAT class) is full of kids without a day of programming experience in their life and I bet I could count at least a third of them who at least have heard about Linux. By the time they are seniors I can almost guarantee 95% of them will have at least heard about Linux if not have seen it in action. You have to be a pretty sheltered CS major or minor NOT to know about Linux.

I am going to assume our troll is an American public high school kid from Brooklyn. In which case all I have to say is the American school system as I have experienced them epically fail when it comes to teaching advanced computer subjects. If you want a good computer education your going to have to go vocational/charter to get it. Even then I, a self taught student, have beaten the pants off those kids in programming competitions (the only reason I placed 12th on the national level is I forgot KISS). The best thing to do is not to take programming classes in high school honestly because the teachers are outdated or technologically provincial, most of the time, and the curriculum is boring and slow, again most of the time.

I personally find it very immature to label someone as "really bad" on a simple bases that that person doesn't use Linux. It might be the case but please show us further evidence of his incompetence. Computer science is so much more than Linux. Maybe he is avid user of Unix, BSD, or some other OS? And ultimately what's wrong with windows? (let's set aside the whole M$ BS and look simply at the product. I hope people here are perhaps more able to understand the true complexity of it. And no I'm noT MS fanboy)

I used to have a teacher who you would easily label as a "BAD and incompetent" as well. He was old guy (university professor!) and I learned a LOT from him. And laugh all you want - he used QBASIC for programming (or assembly if he fancied. he had even done perfocard programming in his time). And man he could take most complex math problems I knew and write out in few stataments. He understood the true inner working of CPU's, microcontrollers, memory and whatnot. And whenever I showed him a project/piece of code he could within minits find a whole list of problems and bottlenecks. (along the lines of - look here this statament won't align well with prefetch. and look there that bus will be throttled, ...) Yeah he is sorta idol of mine now.

He used talk with his eyes shut and fling his arms every now and then. That's how much he was into what he was doing. And he didn't use Linux!