Trent Shipley wrote:
> 
> Of course computer science is not about programming.  A CS student is
> supposed to work at developing completely new algorithms, applications,
> technology or above all CS theory.
>    Most programming deals with variations on themes.   You redeploy the same
> tools to solve related problems.  The main level of creativity is just at
> the level of problem analysis.
> 
> I've been thinking about it and am starting to suspect that programming is a
> trade . . . along with construction, repair, networking, help-desk, etc.
> Briefly:
> 
> Computer Science :: Mathematics :: Physics                   Discipline
> 
> CIS/MIS::Computer Engineering::Medicine::EE                  Profession
> 
> Hacking/Programming::Networking::Plumbing::Journalism        Trade
> 
> This also implies that programming is an eminently TRAINABLE skill and that
> our economy's system for creating coders is completely wrong....   (Which is
> a good thing if you are highly paid programmer or his dependent, and bad if
> you are anybody else.)

I have to agree.  As an example, take a look at India.  They are
training a non technical society to code for foreign corporations. 
Coding and debugging existing algorithms requires trainable skills like
translating written languages.  However, don't expect great amounts of
innovation from trade coders unless you have worked out the underlying
principals in advance.

Just my two bits (0,1).


-- 
Chris Lewis
Tesla Systems
shadow@digitalnirvana.com
----------------------------------------
You want what?? When??  And how cold is it in Hell today?
----------------------------------------

The following code is a PERL script capable of decoding a CSS (Content
Scrambling System) encrypted DVD in real time.  This is illegal to
possess in the US according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a
set of laws passed by anonymous vote in congress in 1998.  The Motion
Picture Association of America (MPAA) is opposed to the distribution of
this software because it allows the owners of CSS encrypted DVDs to
exercise their long-standing fair use rights with new digital
technologies.  For more information, please visit:
http://www.opendvd.org/

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# 526-byte qrpff, Keith Winstein and Marc Horowitz
<sipb-iap-dvd@mit.edu>
# MPEG 2 PS VOB file on stdin -> descrambled output on stdout
# arguments: title key bytes in least to most-significant order
$_='while(read+STDIN,$_,2048){$a=29;$c=142;if((@a=unx"C*",$_)[20]&48){$h=5;
$_=unxb24,join"",@b=map{xB8,unxb8,chr($_^$a[--$h+84])}@ARGV;s/...$/1$&/;$d=
unxV,xb25,$_;$b=73;$e=256|(ord$b[4])<<9|ord$b[3];$d=$d>>8^($f=($t=255)&($d
>>12^$d>>4^$d^$d/8))<<17,$e=$e>>8^($t&($g=($q=$e>>14&7^$e)^$q*8^$q<<6))<<9
,$_=(map{$_%16or$t^=$c^=($m=(11,10,116,100,11,122,20,100)[$_/16%8])&110;$t
^=(72,@z=(64,72,$a^=12*($_%16-2?0:$m&17)),$b^=$_%64?12:0,@z)[$_%8]}(16..271))
[$_]^(($h>>=8)+=$f+(~$g&$t))for@a[128..$#a]}print+x"C*",@a}';s/x/pack+/g;eval