Re: Eiffel anyone? - Who uses it?

[Mike Stark <michael.e.stark@gsfc.nasa.gov>]

ivory@tower.com wrote:
> 
> My friend's son is looking at colleges, and was startled to see
> that RIT appears to have a heavy focus on the language Eiffel for
> the first 2-3 years.  He's using this as a black mark against the
> school.  The thinking is that he'd rather be learning a 'real'
> language that has real-life value on the job market.
> 
> He's asked me for my opinion, and I'd have to say that I somewhat
> agree.  I've never met an Eiffel programer, and don't see a lot of
> ads for them in the classifieds.  Note: I'm not debating whether or
> not Eiffel is a good language; that's not the concern.  The concern
> is whether or not the job market will see this as having been time
> well spent.
> 
> So, what's the (reality based) counter argument?

The counter argument is that he will learn how to do software 
engineering right.  The purpose of education is to give you the
principles you need to understand a field and to keep up with how
its changing.  A graduate of a good program will be able to make
transitions between languages fairly easily, because he will
understand how to build software systems, most of which has nothing
to do with the language of choice. Languages are easy to learn compared
to design principles, large project engineering, configuration
management, testing approaches, etc.  If your friend's son likes
RIT except for the language used, he would be foolish not to go there.

I also suspect that there are single courses based on the more popular
languages that he can pick up if need be.  He can also pick up industry
practices via co-oping or summer jobs.

Mike
> 
> [obviously, I seldom (ever) read each of the newsgroups I posted this
> to, so please e-mail responses as well as re-post.  thanks]
> 
> John
> 
> --------------------------------------- ________ ---------------------
>  John E. Ivory       V: 315-724-3540        /   ___         ___  ___
>  ivory@tower.com     F: 315-724-3129       /   /  / | /| / /_   /__/
>                                           /   /__/  |/ |/ /__  / |
> -              http://www.tower.com       C O N C E P T S ,  I N C
> ---
> ----- Razor: File version control with integrated problem tracking ----

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Stark                                                  
NASA/GSFC                                           
Phone: (301) 286-5048                                   Code 551
Fax:    (301) 286-0245                                   Greenbelt, MD
20771
 e-mail: michael.e.stark@gsfc.nasa.gov
"I don't give them hell.  I tell the truth and they THINK it's hell!" 
Harry S. Truman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------