University of Florida Eliminates Computer Science Department

[zinfamous]

Yep, I've linked it in these forums before, but IIRC, less than 20 athletic programs actually make money. The rest lose. Too lazy to look up the info now, but I believe it is on the NCAA's site as well. It is a myth that won't die that states athletic programs everywhere are raking in the money.

EDIT: My memory was a little off; 22 programs made money:

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect...lue+Disk+-+FBS+Athletic+Revenues+and+Expenses

It's NCAA fairy tales to justify their importance in regulating (Read: controlling) the value of sports programs.

Don't get me wrong--I get into college sports as much as anyone (Well, not so much anymore), but the only way to try and justify to the peons that CBS (prior) contract for bball NCAA tournament was really worth $4 billion, head coach salaries eclipsing the faculty salaries of entire University departments, students (tuition) and tax payers (state Universities) need to be on the hook for upgrading stadium facilities, the existence of ESPN and the wider sports marketing world tied to NCAA...is to continue fostering this lie that the sports programs are anything more than a speck on the radar of a University's larger revenue.

 

[Sureshot324]

Are you trolling? A real CS degree is NOT about creating web pages.

True, but the way CS is now, it is far from an ideal way to train people to become software developers. Maybe there should be another major for people that want a more more practical training instead of math that they'll never use, but still want a full 4 year University degree.

 

[preslove]

True, but the way CS is now, it is far from an ideal way to train people to become software developers. Maybe there should be another major for people that want a more more practical training instead of math that they'll never use, but still want a full 4 year University degree.

These exist. Some are undergraduate information science programs (which evolved from library science because libraries run on advanced software & websites), information technology programs, and others.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

It's NCAA fairy tales to justify their importance in regulating (Read: controlling) the value of sports programs.

Don't get me wrong--I get into college sports as much as anyone (Well, not so much anymore), but the only way to try and justify to the peons that CBS (prior) contract for bball NCAA tournament was really worth $4 billion, head coach salaries eclipsing the faculty salaries of entire University departments, students (tuition) and tax payers (state Universities) need to be on the hook for upgrading stadium facilities, the existence of ESPN and the wider sports marketing world tied to NCAA...is to continue fostering this lie that the sports programs are anything more than a speck on the radar of a University's larger revenue.

I'm really not sure what your point is. The NCAA is very forthcoming with financials and as shown, most programs don't make money at all and even at larger schools that do, the money they make is small compared to the overall revenue of the school. This isn't a mystery, nor is it hidden.

The NCAA has no regulation for upgrading arenas, coaches salaries, etc. The CBS/Turner contract is on the order of $10 billion and believe me, those entities are making their money back while the schools get redistributions on the order of 95% of the NCAA's yearly revenue in the form of programs or direct cash outlays.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

True, but the way CS is now, it is far from an ideal way to train people to become software developers. Maybe there should be another major for people that want a more more practical training instead of math that they'll never use, but still want a full 4 year University degree.

Look into software engineering. Although generally if you're looking to be trained into a job then a science degree in general isn't usually the route you want to take. There's technical schools for that sort of thing.

 

[Sureshot324]

Look into software engineering. Although generally if you're looking to be trained into a job then a science degree in general isn't usually the route you want to take. There's technical schools for that sort of thing.

Software Engineering is a very similar major to computer science. Both involve a lot of math and I'd say the majority of courses SE students take are the same as CS students.

I agree that a technical school makes more practical sense if you want to learn the skills to be a software developer but if you want to work at a larger company or government, not having a Bachelors degree can hurt you.

 

[BHeemsoth]

Disgusting.

Athletic departments make crazy money. CS....not so much. You would be shocked to see how much the major football and basketball programs make.

 

[zinfamous]

Athletic departments make crazy money. CS....not so much. You would be shocked to see how much the major football and basketball programs make.

read thread. sports prorgams make money for sports programs. the money that the University actually sees from any sports is a fart in the wind compared to their real money-makers.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Software Engineering is a very similar major to computer science. Both involve a lot of math and I'd say the majority of courses SE students take are the same as CS students.

I agree that a technical school makes more practical sense if you want to learn the skills to be a software developer but if you want to work at a larger company or government, not having a Bachelors degree can hurt you.

Yea, it's still a four year university degree. It'll generally have less math and more of a focus on software life-cycles. If you want to look good to a large company by being well learned/well rounded then yea you're going to need a decent degree. That's the company/governments fault not the degrees.

 

[slugg]

Computer Science is too broad a term. I think it's really bad how colleges have it right now.

Huh?

It's always more about the money and less about actually TEACHING students something.

That may be true at some institutions. Most of the time, though, it's more about the research and less about actually teaching undergraduates.

Students should specialize in fields they are interested in and spend little time on other topics and concepts. Those should only be used to introduce students to related fields and areas in IT to make them more well rounded people.

I don't really know where to begin with how wrong this statement is. First of all, it's self contradicting. If you specialize, you're not well rounded. Also, if you want to learn something very specific, that's what trade school is for. Finally, the term "IT" is flinged around whenever something has to do with computers. Computer science is not IT! They can have an overlap, but there is so much more to CS than just IT.

As it stands right now, colleges have way too much Mathematics in Computer Science programs. If someone wants to create pages with HTML and CSS, there is no need for them to study Trigonometry and Calculus. It's ridiculous to state otherwise.

I really hope you're kidding. Being able to use HTML and CSS isn't even a topic in computer science. And besides, do you think that in order to invent HTML and CSS, we didn't need advanced mathematics?

I know people who barely passed basic math yet they create wonderful web pages. Clearly, math is not very important in this case.

Correct; math is not important in this case. But web design is not computer science! Did you even think about the technologies that web sites even work on? In fact, modern Photoshop implements advanced mathematical concepts that rivals those found in pretty much anything NASA or SpaceX does, just in a different context.

Put it to you this way. If you can't show a proof as to why an algorithm is fundamentally fast or slow, nobody will hire you for any kind of good job. Everyone can program... programming is EASY once you figure out your algorithms and data structures. But in order to truly innovate the field, you really do need to master some applied and theoretical mathematics.

 

[Vic Vega]

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[slugg]

CompSci never made sense anyway.

You're a hardware engineer, a software engineer or a systems engineer. Each of these have their own degree path.

So what about things like artificial intelligence? Or what about digital signal processing? The topics themselves have almost nothing to do with physical computers. It just so happens that we program the applications onto computers. As a result, they're specialized a bit. For example, in signal processing, all the calculus has to be converted over into some kind of discrete algebraic case.

But the topic of AI or DSP, by itself, has nothing to do with hardware, software, or systems. It has everything to do with computer science...

Or what about theory of algorithms? That also has nothing to do with computers, but it's definitely in the realm of computer science.

 

[Vic Vega]

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[unokitty]

Back to the original topic, looks like UF is not going to drop CS afterall...

Uno