2013-12-01-programming-and-computer-science-degree.html

---
layout: post
title: Programming and a Computer Science Degree
date: '2013-12-01T15:50:00.000-05:00'
author: Carlo
tags: 
modified_time: '2013-12-01T15:50:13.479-05:00'
blogger_id: tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115978604548657664.post-1868609255896479510
blogger_orig_url: https://thewahlstedts.blogspot.com/2013/12/programming-and-computer-science-degree.html
---

<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Okay, now that HTML and CSS are behind, what should I learn next (for developing an interactive website) - JavaScript or PHP? or something else...</span></blockquote>I ran across this question that someone posted a while back (actually, almost a year ago). I responded to the question, however my response was more in general toward people who want to learn programming and trying to understand where to start. I read it again recently and felt like it was a pretty good thought so I wanted to repost it here.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Relate it to being a carpenter (I'm not a carpenter but my father was so I know some basics). Anyone can learn to use tools (ex. saw and hammer) to build a house. However, let's say you didn't learn (or know) the concepts of weight distribution and making sure things are level and square. You build a two story, 2000 sq ft house. When you're done the house is livable (at least for some amount of time). It might be leaning and there is a terrible draft that makes it impossible to keep warm (we're building a house in a cold climate :-) ).</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">In the same way you can learn the tools (any given language) to build an application. However, in the end your application might be a security risk or have a terrible memory leak that you can't fix except to re-write a large chunk of it.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">So you see, you can learn any given language and build an application but that is not to say that it will be build on good concepts. However, unlike a house, for many a poorly written application can be difficult to detect.</blockquote>So what do you think? Agree or disagree with me?