Gimme, Gimme Gimme!

[Epsilon]

My IT-teacher doesn't really know anything. She gave me a worse mark than I expected in the last test because I wrote about things she don't know. As a example I mentioned Ogg Vorbis as a compressed format and she says that it doesn't even exist.

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I had a teacher like that when i was in gradeschool, back then i told him that i was learning to program fortran, he then said that if i wanted to do serious programming i should learn MS Basic.
errm...errr..yessss? :huh:

 

[Digitalrat]

Well she also said I should use Frontpage for html.

 

[junker]

Keep going with your math! Calculus is where real math starts ;-) It only gets cooler

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and ton harder hah. well if you're lazy that is. i got a fat test to study in calc2 to study for, but here i am wasting my time

 

[alibee]

Math get's easier when you start finding uses for it in real applications... learning it by rote can be a drag

Oh, and when people actually start to pay you for using it... well you'd be surprised at how much that will perk up your interest! :lol:

 

[Prothall]

That's a sure thing on Maths.

I'm 17, in AP Java, taking AP Calculus BC. Calculus is my hardest class, though I haven't gotten less than a perfect score in Computer since Midterm (we have trimesters).

Thankfully, my Computer teacher, while experienced in things that are now mostly useless (I think he's handy with Fortran and VERY elementary C) is very understanding and has suggested that I do classwork and then get on with whatever I like, as he admits he couldn't pass the Java AB exam (though he thinks I might, if I get on studying for it). At the moment I'm trying to hash out a Pong applet after doing in one 45 minute period what the other (bright) students take four or five days to do, and mine is the only code that doesn't look like alphabet soup.

The IT head is a mysterious, withdrawn fellow, but when I can occasionally speak with him we have much in common - he's actually installed Ubuntu on an old system and he's replacing a box in the layout room for the school paper; as I'm the head (and essentially sole) layout guy ("Publishing Editor") for the paper, I'm going to ask him to let me set up some Linux distro so I can use Scribus. However, this head IT fellow is really the only person in the computer department familiar with Linux, so it doesn't look like it'll spread.

Anyway, do pursue your studies as best you can - the importance of math is something I hear everywhere. And make sure that, as much as you study comp. Sci, you have something else if you're interested in Game Programming - diversification makes you more interesting.

I think disturbing knowledge of the history of fonts and being "Publishing Editor" of the school paper (with published articles on Dragon*Con and the Revolution, no less - GP2X soon to come in all likeliness) will do as much for me in college apps as all my computer instruction (probably more), simply because it's much more difficult to distinguish yourself in the usual academic framework.

Pardon the questionable relevancy factor, I'm tuned into Computer work after making a quick twenty helping my mother's friend with stupid web hosts and printer setup.

Hm, yes, that's a pithy statement.

"Help contacts with computer set-up and troubleshooting and they will throw money at you." This works best if you are roughly high-school age, I think. And terribly patient.

 

[MiniMoose]

Anyway, do pursue your studies as best you can - the importance of math is something I hear everywhere.

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The bare truth of the matter is that there are 10 Chinese students and 5 Indian students who are studying the exact same thing you are right now and they will compete with you for every engineering job you ever apply for. Have a nice day (Note: that is a good thing for the world, but it means you have to study harder and work faster to get ahead.)

"Help contacts with computer set-up and troubleshooting and they will throw money at you." This works best if you are roughly high-school age, I think. And terribly patient.

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I've always thought the best way for a highschool geek today to make money is to fix people's computers, offer to train people on various bits of software, and teach them basic IT skills for their home networks. I know kids making $50/hour setting up wireless AP's and teaching people how to manage/run their home networks in a secure manner.

Back in my day it was setting up your own ISP, but alas those days are gone forever. I did make quite a few bucks backing up "data" ph34r, reinstalling windows, and restoring "data" for parents of my friends.

 

[Prothall]

Yeah, it'd be rather easy to make $50/hour with a little push. Sadly, that feels like highway robbery to me... I suppose eventually that moral barrier will be eroded and my wallet shall be fattened. It's not a long step after seeing how the skills are in demand and how "professionals" charge $75/hour plus and propose idiotic upgrades.

 

[junker]

yeah, i hook up/fix my family and friends stuff all the time for free or maybe a meal or something. it's outrageous how much these "professionals" charge to fix basic issues or for little upgrades. i think my cousin shelled out a couple hundred to get some virus/ad/spyware removed, but the geek guys at best buy didn't do a good job at all.

 

[triton]

i think math in school is retarded, i pass the classes, but about 80% of what we learn will NEVER be used in any real way, i plan on working with computers as a career, not qute sure how yet, but i dnot need to know geometry to do it, i hate that class, its so stupid

 

[MiniMoose]

i think math in school is retarded, i pass the classes, but about 80% of what we learn will NEVER be used in any real way, i plan on working with computers as a career, not qute sure how yet, but i dnot need to know geometry to do it, i hate that class, its so stupid

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Hrm...do you want to be involved in making video games (or any software for that matter)? I'm a game programmer during the day and I can assure you that you need to know your math inside and out. That includes algebra, geometry, calculus, and differential equations. I use lots of math every day.

 

[deadlychicken22]

thanks for the advice, i might try that. I definitely don't want to get suspended, so i'm not going to delete netop, don't worry i'm not that stupid.

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I don't think you're stupid, I just know how tempting it is to make it obvious to others how stupid some teachers really are. The unions have *not* done good things for the quality of American teachers. :angry:

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Surprisingly, i go to a private school and we have this. Most of our teachers are really good but this guy is either really stupid or really lazy (probably both). And the other teachers don't know enough about computers to know it. Actually, up until this year, kids just played age of empires 2 over the network for about 3/4 of his classes, but the other teachers noticed this and brought it up in their meeting and they had to delete it off the computers.

He doesn't explain anything at all, so some of the kids are copying his psuedocode off of his website and pasting it into their programs and are then really confused when it all turns red and gives them errors About 2 weeks into the class he finally noticed this problem and had to explain to the class why the pseudocode wouldn't work.

BTW, about geometry, while I'm not sure if you will use everything you're learning in it when working with computers, you will probably use some of it, and it also helps to give you another perspective on solving certain types of problems (which is VERY helpful in most cases).

 

[riddler2000]

back in 1982 my friend taught me this program:

10 print " hello"
20 goto 10

and now 23 years on thats all I know , nevermind. I can build,
fix , and troubleshoot pc`s but program? no way. I admire
you guys so much , perhaps I should start with gpx2 ,then
again maybe not.