greateros:

Neither did steve jobs yet he best the best. You said it all beaf!

Seems you are trying very hard to tell yourself you did not waste a whole 4 years studying a course that some one else did under 8 months!

Let me remind you that some bricklayers end up better designers and builders than theso called architect and engineers and they are even cheaper!

Based on the current computer science curricula in Nigerian universities, you hav every reason to panic and i will advice you to think twice before you go waste your time studying computer science under a prof that doesn't know what modern computing is all about! the choice is yours.

all4naija:

^^^^
Nothing is wrong with 4 years just that in the Nigerian system it is blow expectations. You should be surprised to see a graduate without understanding of algorithm and of structural approach to solving problems. Indeed, you are taking this issue too personal. There are no equipped / qualified hands in Nigerian universities to do the training. You would be so surprised to see only few graduates can actually attempt problem solving in computer science.

NL1960:

Iam not taking it too personal. I was just responding to a comment. I have come across a graduate of computer science that does not know what he/she did in school. I have interviewed somebody who after 3 months of graduation does not know what he did in his/her project. I have equally come across a computer science graduate that knows very much. I have equally seen Aptech/NIIT graduates that falls into the two categories. What iam trying to bring out is that computing is not about programming. I always tell people programming is an art while computing is a science. I once told somebody that iam not good in the use of excel sheet and he started laughing that how can a computer science graduate not be a guru in the use of excel but i told him that i know the logic behind its design and that they must have used pointers in the design. An Aptech/NIIT will not know what is pointers and its usages. Anybody that knows compiler construction which i consider the heart of computing can come up with his/her programming language. You think the writers of PHP, Java and other languages brought it from their mother's womb. I can decide to come with a language that uses '[' to group statements as opposed to Java that uses '{' or those that use '.'. If you use something that is not in my compiler code, i give you a syntax error straight away. That is why it is a language. You have to learn the language and anybody can learn a language and use it. I can learn yoruba and start speaking it. I can equally learn Igbo and speak. If i tell an old man 'good morning' using the wrong word, the old man will tell me 'syntax error' and tell me to go and learn the correct usage. The old is acting as a compiler.

greateros:

Sir, pls don't get me wrong. My point is, its far better doing 8 months professional course in "mushroom Aptec/NIIT" than wasting 4 years studying computer science under a prof that  is not in tune with modern computing. Besides sir, are you saying its only 4 years graduates that "knows data structures, databases, compiler construction, SDLC (software development life cycle) etc and how to combine all these to get a good and stable system"??
permit me to say u r not in tune with trends in modern computing !

I don't really understand why you are so anxious to prove that one must be a graduate in computer science before becoming an expert in the field - yet practical example says otherwise! Just like beaf pointed out, sometimes its a gift [Steve jobs and bill gates comes to mind]!

LWKMD

afam4eva:

I think you're going off tangent. Everyone knows a 4 year guy is better than an 8 months programmer but definitely not in Nigeria. The Nigerian computer science department is a disgrace to both the sciences and IT in general. How many computer science graduates can  write "hello world" with java or ASP? I'll go for the 8 months guys over the comp science graduate ten times over.

Godman_n:

The problem with computer science as a course in Nigeria is a manifestation of the Problem with Nigeria. Appointing incompetent Lecturers based on political and tribal patronage. The answer is to kill corruption so that our best can emerge.

So long as we as a people do not encourage meritocracy in all we do, nothing will work.


I bet you, you deeply regret it. In so far as the way the course is being handled in Nigeria is bad, I find it difficult to see how you can be a good programmer that can think out good algorithm without taking some formal courses like Algorithm, compiler construction, Numerical analysis, etc as a course. These are the foundation upon which a good program is built on.

True the lecturers offered nothing, but mere mentioning of the courses spurred some to read up as much as they can which are not entirely useless. Let me see some of you work, and I bet you they are cut and patch progams. Thank God that is the best we can offer in our nation Nigeris; people like you can claim champions where they are not supposed to.

I want to know why you did not read Computer Science as a course? probably you failed JAMB?

I am a proud, BSC Computer Science (UNN), MSC Advanced Computing (Glasgow) guy. Computer Science is the best that happened to me as a person. Even in solving day to day issues, the course opened my mind.

Think about the flow of logic and reasoning, Think about Scheduling, think about memory and time trade off, think about modules and sub programs and they are tied together, think about classes and object of OOP; you are thinking about daily life.

Few other courses would have offered those knowledge guy.

greenmouse:

,

Read my interview with Vanguard newspapers: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/11/ict-skill-acquisition-key-to-career-breakthrough-victor-nwadinobi/.

henryskywalker2003:

Ehmmm, Just a side note sha. For those calling Bill Gates one of the greatest coders eva, I think you guys must have lost it. Why? Take a look at each iteration of the Windows OS, even with it being proprietory and all (closed source), it is the most easily penetratable, so bad that the company sets out a day every week, called "patch tuesdays" just too patch up system flaws that ends up being penetrated again before the week runs out.
Now, take a look at Linus Torvalds that designed the Linux OS when he was just a student and compare the two works. I know you guys will start shouting about it being Open Source and many people working on it, but the same goes for Windows. Or were you thinking that it's Bill Gates that codes the entire thing? If that's not ok with you, then compare the first windows and the first linux and tell me which is better and a more solid os. My point? There are lots of things about computing that a graduate can always do better than someone that learnt just a few aspects of it. Give them the credit, they spent 4years learning everything there is to know about the danm machine. In fact if you ask me, BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN etc shouldn't be scrapped cos any body that has a good understanding of the above can easily learn java, asp, .net etc far easily than someone that started with java. Those are the basics and if you know them, you can even bring in some concepts to from them into the new one you are learning. Check out any good university curriculum abroad, they still teach those languages, heck, they even expose them to UNIX and other ancient OS so as to have a solid understanding of the basics.

NL1960:

Do not mind those half-baked people whom becuase they could not pass JAMB and then went on to do an 8-month course in Aptech/NIIT where they were only taught java and php now think they are computing gurus. They think java is the heart of computing. The heart of computing is the C language. Java uses C constructs. The compiler of these languages were written in C. Unix is C. It is so unfortunate that these Aptech/NIIT guys are trying to deceive people to fall into the same deep pit they have found themselves. As far as iam concern, Aptech/NIIT are finishing schools and not foundation schools. In India, those that go to Aptech/NIIT are graduate in other fields. You will see graduates in English, finance, commmerce doing Aptech/NIIT because they want to be programmers and from there they can go on to do a master in information science. All these Aptech/NIIT guys making noise here are school certificate holders. Where will school certificate and 8-months Aptech/NIIT get you in the IT career world?. Have they ever seen an advertisement in a top rate company for School certificate plus Aptech/NIIT?. The base for such companies is a degree plus other certificates if any. Can a school certificate plus Aptech/NIIT holder go ahead to do a Masters (M.sc, MBA etc). Anybody that can code basic, fortran and cobol can code any language. Iam sure when Java fades and there is another language called 'Sumatra', these same people will come here and say they are computing gurus because they can code in 'Sumatra'.

henryskywalker2003(m):

Ehmmm, Just a side note sha. For those calling Bill Gates one of the greatest coders eva, I think you guys must have lost it. Why? Take a look at each iteration of the Windows OS, even with it being proprietory and all (closed source), it is the most easily penetratable, so bad that the company sets out a day every week, called "patch tuesdays" just too patch up system flaws that ends up being penetrated again before the week runs out.
Now, take a look at Linus Torvalds that designed the Linux OS when he was just a student and compare the two works. I know you guys will start shouting about it being Open Source and many people working on it, but the same goes for Windows. Or were you thinking that it's Bill Gates that codes the entire thing? If that's not ok with you, then compare the first windows and the first linux and tell me which is better and a more solid os. My point? There are lots of things about computing that a graduate can always do better than someone that learnt just a few aspects of it. Give them the credit, they spent 4years learning everything there is to know about the danm machine. In fact if you ask me, BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN etc shouldn't be scrapped cos any body that has a good understanding of the above can easily learn java, asp, .net etc far easily than someone that started with java. Those are the basics and if you know them, you can even bring in some concepts to from them into the new one you are learning. Check out any good university curriculum abroad, they still teach those languages, heck, they even expose them to UNIX and other ancient OS so as to have a solid understanding of the basics.

kodewrita: Its always good to make comments with some knowledge backing it.
hate him or love him. His claim to fame is that HE CREATED THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY ITSELF.

Eliminate: all old content from our curriculum. we have moved beyond the age of FORTRAN and COBOL. If needed specialists can go and learn such old languages.

Simplify: I know the general assumption is that knowing many languages makes you a guru but I would advise that schools limit programming languages to just three: A scripting/educational language( Python/Scheme/Lisp), a systems programming language(C) and a RAD language(Java/VB). The RAD can be introduced late in the training period to enable them use it for final year projects but all computation and mathematical work should make use of either the prescribed educational one or the systems one. In essence Python or C.

prodam: Thanks guys for shedding more light on this issue, I really salute your positivity.

one thing we must understand is that computer science can never be compared to any IT related course done in any IT shools anywhere. computer science comprises of various computing theory and sub-fields within it. some of which are:

Artificial Intelligence
Communications
Computational Biology
Computer Graphics
Computer Modeling
Computer Programming
Computer Science
Distributed Computing
Encryption
Hacking
Information Technology
Internet
Mobile Computing
Photography
Quantum Computers
Robotics
Software
Spintronics
Video Games
Virtual Reality
WiFi

Specialising in any of the above fields indicates the ultimate application of the knowledge of computer science. It is also an undisputable fact that computer science graduates possess the ability of becoming an expert in any field within a short period of time, just like graduates from other courses in their various fields.

thank you. Greatest computer scientist. what we do is transforming theory into concrete substance. understanding the logic and principle behind every single thing. Keep Your Head Up High