I saw "Which universities teach Python?", so I thought I would ask one about Microsoft technologies. Do you know of any schools that teach beginning to advanced Microsoft programming languages?
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269answers:
6
+10
A:
Would Von Neumann or Turing approve?
Use the Microsoft Academy locator ... Think "Microsoft Youth" and you get the idea.
I think universities should teach C and Lisp and move upwards. As it is harder to move down. All this Java/C# shit should come later. Even Python is a better option than Java IMHO. I dislike the Microsoft strategy of giving schools free stuff to create armies of zombies, read "I can only use [Word|Excel|C#|Access|MS-SQL]"
If I could change things, they would learn:
- Theory first
- Get started with C/Unix with exercises that get results and smiles
- Lisp and SICP crash-course to open their minds a bit
- Move onto a SIMPLE OOP language like Python (minus decorators)
- Then look at other languages and examine in an imperical way, why they exist, and where they differ ... then do a few projects in each.
But hey, it's your education. Don't listen to me, I'm not a computer science graduate.
Aiden Bell
2010-01-21 00:08:15
Note that the Academy locator appears to be broken. I gave it a couple cities and it referred me to places in states I had not selected. Other than that +1.
Chris Lively
2010-01-21 00:14:51
@Chris, Yea it is a bit shit. Mind you, probably ASP.NET
Aiden Bell
2010-01-21 00:16:08
Any competent university will realize that theory comes first, and teach accordingly. Whether theory is taught through C/C++/Java/MS is moot at that point.
Jagd
2010-01-21 00:17:02
@Jagd ... maybe so, but I have seen courses that mangle theory and Java. The science gets lost.
Aiden Bell
2010-01-21 00:19:11
@Aiden. I figured it's using LINQ. ;)
Chris Lively
2010-01-21 00:21:13
+1! Every programmer should be forced to use a unix on their personal computer for at least 1 semester. If they did that *everyone* would be ready for Flash to be replaced!
Earlz
2010-01-21 01:04:53
+13
A:
Let me be the first to say that I recommend that you avoid choosing a college based on the the specific technologies it uses. When I went to college, IBM and DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) were the biggest technologies. My college used DEC systems, and that helped me get my first couple programming jobs after college; however, I think that probably would have been true for whatever technology I used in school. Now, IBM is not as big a force as they were - at least in the sense of dominating the hardware market - and DEC no longer exists as an independent entity (bought by Compaq which was bought by HP). I've learned Unix and Windows to stay employable.
GreenMatt
2010-01-21 00:09:09
True, but it seems like many colleges simply avoid MS technologies. Perhaps I should have rephrased my question to ask which colleges teach a variety of technologies instead of just one platform.
Chris
2010-01-21 17:18:47
Many commented that one shouldn't choose a college based on the technologies used. However, I simply asked if there is a college out there that teaches the MS stack from beginning to advanced stages. Neumont appears to do this. So I must mark this as the answer.
Chris
2010-02-23 21:05:08
A:
At my university (Polytechnique, Montreal), the language of predilection for teaching procedural + object oriented programming is C++. However, we use Visual Studio as an IDE (one could say we do learn some Microsoft technologies).
Olivier Lalonde
2010-01-21 00:15:58
A:
University of South Florida uses C# and VB.NET in some of its more advanced courses. Gateway courses are all Java and C, though.
Joel Etherton
2010-01-21 00:20:41
+4
A:
Well I am a CS Grad and currently using Microsoft Technologies and I completely agree with @GreenMatt, it is not good to go for a course centred around particular Platform / tools but not the core concepts
Any way if this is your choice have a look at Sheffield Hallam University, being parter organisation and training centre for Microsoft, it also offers some degree courses based arround Microsoft such as the following
One more thing, these tools and technologies are evolving so quickly and more and more are coming in every other day, Consider this..
- 6 months ago I was using "Hard coded queries to get data from DB"
- about 3 months ago I started using Designer generated Data Sets and Table Adapters
- Now the new project has been approved with use of "LINQ to SQL" for Data Acess Layer.
All 3 are from Microsoft, along with 2 dozen other technologies
Honestly, by the time you will be out of schools, for professionals you will sound like talking about history of programming !!!!
You will learn twice as more tools each month than you will learn at school per semester, but won't be able to develop that very "skills set" and "art for programming", if you miss / avoid "data structures", "Algorithms", "Discrete Mathematics" and "Object oriented Programming Concepts" or similar Subjects.
So moral of the story
Strong concepts and skills / approach towards problem solving will help you always, never the tools.
Hope it helps
Asad Butt
2010-01-21 00:21:33