The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 28, 1988 Page: 4 of 16
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4 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1988 THE RICE THRESHER
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New computer course offered to SE's
Ant uses the computers in Mudd.
by Harlan Howe
Rice's computer science depart-
ment will offer a new computer
course this spring. The course will
expose students to the OWLnet
computer network on campus and
mathematical principles which re-
late to the sciences.
The course, COMP210, will be on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
at 10 a.m. Robert Cartwright and
Michael Pearlman are scheduled to
teach the class. Enrollment will be
limited to 48 students. There will be
a lab held two afternoons a week.
The course is intended to eventu-
ally become standard for all science
and engineering students. In Rice's
General Announcements for 1988 to
1989, more than half of the engineer-
ing degree requirements include a
semester of computer science. The
class is an experimental course to
provide a standard introduction to
computing applications and Rice's
computer facilities for students with
a broad scientific background.
Lecturer of computer science
Pearlman said, "The course is ex-
perimental at this stage. The course
as it stands now will be very different
from the course that may eventually
be taught We're still planning final
details, like how fast we can go and
into how much detail."
Associate professor of computer
science Ro'bert Hood said, "I think
the need for 210 exists. There is
sentiment for changing the way pro-
gramming is taught.. .Pascal was a
good vehicle for teaching program-
ming ten years ago, but it's becom-
ing a little bit dated and there are
better ways of teaching introductory
programming. It was seen as a ...
convenient time to try a new ap-
No erection
FROM PAGE 3
greatest chief executives clearly
would never have held that office.
Despite his political acumen and his
moral integrity, Lincoln would never
have gotten around that Hershey-
Kissonhischin. Similarly, Washing-
ton would never have made it in view
of his wooden teeth (which are, inci-
dentally, why he had to bust up that
cherry tree—so he could fashion a
means to eat his corn and get his
mom off his back).
Another way in which the 88's
'erection' stands on the superficial is
the underlying hypocrisy regarding
the federal government's financial
situation.^
Almost everyone agrees that the
federal government's financial policy
is worse than ludicrous and that the
asymptomatically growing national
deficit will eventually cast us all into
a Steinbeckian scene where we sit
around groaning and boiling dirt.
And yet no sector of the populace is
willing to accept the burden of
correcting our nation's disastrous
financial course. The 'haves' will not
hear of a tax increase, nor will the old
or the 'have-nots' hear of a social-
program spending decrease. And
obviously we've got to have a
national defense which is capable of
blowing the hell out of our planet
several times over (we currently
possess 3,500 nuclear warheads?!).
proach on teaching programming
with the introduction of OWLnet.
"We're going to need to have an
introductory programming course
that' addresses engineers and sci-
ence people," Hood said.
Cartwright said, "In the long run,
we anticipate that the engineering
department will standardize on
something like 210."
COMP 210 is intended for fresh-
men and sophomore science and
engineering students who have a
good mathematical background. It
differs from the currently taught
COMP 211 course by its scientific
orientation and specific computing
facilities. COMP 210 will use the
language Scheme. The two classes
will be held at the same time so stu-
dents having trouble in 210 will be
able to switch easily into COMP 211.
Pearlman said, "We want as a side
goal to present OWLnet as a tool for
students, so they can use the com-
puter when they are doing home-
work for other classes, to find roots,
to plot labs."
Cartwright said,"We had origi-
nally planned to offer a course that
assumed an AP. course in Computer
Science as a prerequisite.. .We de-
cided that a better approach would
be to offer a core course that as-
sumed no specific computer back-
ground, but did assume a reasonable
level of mathematical sophistication,
the kind of sophistication one would
expect a student who plans to major
in either science or engineering
would have..."
The course was designed to be
"appropriate for all the students that
plan to major in computer science,
electrical engineering, and mathe-
matical sciences. There's a lot of
overlap among the student popula-
tion in those three majors, and also a
lot of interaction among the faculty of
those three departments. We have a
much better idea of what common
elements a course. . . should in-
clude," Cartwright said.
Cartwright also said he is inter-
ested in finding potential laboratory
assistants for the course. He is look-
ing for people who know Scheme or
are familiar with the LISP system.
Policy Studies major
reinstated temporarily
by Kurt Moeller
Dean of Social Sciences James
Pomerantz has ended the morato-
rium on new declarations of the Pol-
icy Studies major.
Associate professor of political
science Robert Stein will teach Social
Science 300 this spring, formerly
taught by late professor of econom-
ics Gaston Rimlinger. No decision
has been made about the future of
the major after this year.
Stein worked with Rimlinger in
the Policy Studies program. Rimlin-
ger was considered the founder of
the major.
Explaining the moratorium on
the major, which was declared this
year after Rimlinger's death, Stein
said, "We just didn't think anyone
What about the children's
America—"here ya go kid, have a
radioactive dirt-dog and shuddup,
will ya?"
Everyone talks about this critical
issue of our nation's financial
situation, and almost no one is ready
to give up a sliver of their pie in order
to do anything about it And because
we the voters treat this pressing
problem in such a hypocritical
manner, this superficiality is
reflected in 88's 'erection'. Its
candidates, anxious to tell each part
of the populace what it wants to hear,
that the deficit problem will be
solved but that nobody's pie will be
reduced, treat this problem of our
nation's financial woes in a
misleading, unrealistic manner.
Now, we need to seriously ask
ourselves if we're willing to call this
campaign of 1988 a legitimate
'erection'. What sort of 'erection'
would it be that is based on mere
images and sweet lies? Clearly, no
'erection' at all. 'Erections' have
substance and integrity.
Thus, when I return for my check-
up and my allergist asks me again
"whoo zyoo sink wih win de
erection?" I'll pedantically snap as if I
were William Buckley, "Madam,
your's is a loaded question insofar as
it presupposes a hypothetical state of
affairs the reality of which I do not
countenance. There is no erection."
wanted the major."
Pomerantz ended the morato-
rium because of strong student inter-
est
"A number of students wrote let-
ters to the Dean and President re-
questing that the moratorium be
lifted," Stein said.
Twenty-two students wrote 16
letters to the administration.
Hanszen College junior Nick Shan-
nin wrote a letter to the editors of
the Thresher which was published in
the September 23 issue.
For this spring only, Stein will
teach Social Science 300, the intro-
ductory course to the major. He has
taught the course in the past
Long-term questions about the
major are still unanswered. The big-
gest problem is staffing the Social
Science 300 course. Pomerantz said,
"We still need to face the longer term
question of how this course can be
staffed in the future, given the lim-
ited resources available."
Stein outlined three possible
solutions: Rice could hire a new fac-
ulty member to teach the course for
the Policy Studies program, but
budgetary constraints make this un-
likely; another department could
give up a faculty member to the Pol-
icy Studies program; or the course
could be discontinued, and students
could continue to individually design
and declare area majors in Policy
Studies.
The third option is time consum-
ing for faculty advisors and would
remove the SOSC 300 course, which
is regarded as one of the outstanding
features of the major. Stein said
SOSC 300 pulled together all aspects
of the major.
In response to the removal of the
moratorium, Shannin said, "It was
the obvious choice, the right choice,
and. I'm glad they did it"
' However, Shannin expressed dis-
satisfaction with the manner in
which the moratorium on the major
was handled. "I wished they had
been more public with what was
going on. I heard by heresay that the
policy studies major was closed, and
again, I heard by heresay that the
policy studies major was open."
Despite the problems with the
major, Stein said, "I am not pessimis-
tic. I think we'll do something with
the major."
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McGarrity, Patrick & Sendek, Joel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 28, 1988, newspaper, October 28, 1988; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245704/m1/4/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.