On 06/06/2015 03:32 AM, jim deleskie wrote:
I remember you asking me who Jon was:) I have since added to my list of interview questions... sad but the number of people with clue is declining not increasing.
It's not a question of clue, but of history. How many CS grads are exposed to the details of the development of the Internet and Information Technology? Many of us know of Jon Postel because we experienced and appreciated his work for the Internet when he was alive. Ditto Richard Stevens. Now I ask you: how many students would delve into history that deeply? How many universities/colleges/trade schools would include that information in their curriculum? Moving on...Larry Wall -- I'm finding that the new generation of people don't use Perl any more, instead favoring Python for some reason. Indeed, my current job's management insists I learn Python, even though Perl has much more support for Cisco equipment as part of CPAN. So, given that bias, it wouldn't be surprising that the up-and-coming wouldn't know who invented a tool they don't use. Guido van Rossum, they know, maybe. People exposed only to Windows may or may not know about Paul Vixie's contributions to our world -- again, it's history that would be arcane for those who never dabbled in Unix or Unix-like systems, or didn't follow Internet politics. (Yes, BIND is implemented on Windows systems -- I consult to an ISP who suffers through the pain caused by the decision to do so -- but using a piece of software and knowing the history of that software are two different things, particularly when a person isn't doing DNS admin full-time.) If your goal is to play "Gotcha!", you need to go farther afield. What is "ARPAnet", and what role did it play in the development of the Internet? What is "XNS"? What is "ThickNet"? "ThinNet"? Expand and explain CTS, RTS, CD/DCD, MR, TR, RC, TC. What is V.35? HSSI? ITU? T1 and E1, and what is the difference? And so on through ISO level 1. Who was Thomas Watson? Who was Hollerith...and how did his invention trace its origins to silk tapestry? What problem was Hollerith trying to solve? Who is (were) Ken Olson and Harlan Anderson? Throw in Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper. What is the significance of a 30 centimeter piece of twisted-pair wire, which Admiral Hopper would hand out at lectures? What is COBOL? (And I'm not referring to the planet Kobol that is part of the Battlestar Galactia universe.) Who were Ken Thompson, Brian Kernighan, Dennis Ritchie, and Phillip Plauger? Bill Joy? And so on, and so on, second star to the right and straight on 'till morning... Here's the topper: who was (is) Al Gore, and what part did he play in the birth of the Internet as we know it today? Try not to howl as some of the answers you will get.