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This line changed my life.
Here's some context for my comment. My Indian educational system put a lot of store in rote learning. Being able to memorize a large quantity of information accurately, index it well, and reproduce it accurately conferred significant advantages. »
This was reinforced in some odd ways. In high school, I participated a lot (and well) in trivia competitions (which we called "quizzes"). Here knowing facts, names, and classifications was a superpower. »
I was fortunate to go to a school that, though athletically very strong, also appreciated more cerebral pursuits. But these all reinforced the idea that the mindless, relentless hoovering up of *facts* was what mattered, and was mistaken for some kind of "learning". »
I read Feynman's "What Do You Care …" when I was about 17, and came across the story of the bird. I remember being dumbstruck by that paragraph. It conveyed something my entire educational system had failed to get me to understand (no doubt partly my fault). »
I had already suffered terribly from this obsession with naming things. I haven't talked about this before, but might as well do it now. »
I'm a really good computer scientist. I live and breathe this stuff. I'm that computational thinker who views grocery stores and shopping lists and backpacks and everything else in computational terms. But let me tell you how I nearly dropped out of CS. »
We didn't have CS in schools in India, but my mom signed me up for a summer course before 9th grade. I wasn't excited; I felt no emotion at all. Computers didn't exist in my world; and I was really passionate about physics (and, thanks to one magical teacher, chemistry). »
Unfortunately, we were on vacation the previous week, so I missed the first two days of classes (which ran for about half a day every day). So I'd missed out on a lot. I came in expecting to be somewhat lost. But it was much worse than that. »
They'd spent two whole days on names of things. They didn't provide the book beforehand, so I didn't know ANY of the words or ANY of the abbreviations. Even if they had given me the book, none of it would have made sense, because I'd literally never seen a computer before. »
My classmates were merciless. I was taunted and teased for several hours for being a "computer" dud. I came home distraught. I think it was the only time in my teens I cried. I refused to go back. But my mom insisted I couldn't give up that quickly. »
The second day was no better. Still with the names and abbreviations. Still with the taunting. Still distraught. I really was done; I wasn't going to return. My mom was much more sympathetic, but she made me promise to try just one last day, after which I could give up. »
But then, something magical happened. We stopped talking and started with programming. The rest of the class had no advantage carry over from the previous days. Nobody could abuse me or show off, so everything was calm that Friday. I agreed I'd return next week. »
That initial material was called something like "ADP: Automatic Data Processing". Big fuss classifying super/mini/micro–computers to people who had literally never seen one. Line drawings of operators in heels and suits before closet-sized machines. »
I never figured it out. The same rubbish material repeated in my formal CS classes in school, but by now I'd figured out I could ignore it. I was a good test-taker, so I could answer those questions never having learned it. CS education shifted to my turf, and has stayed. »
As a scientist, I know the value of terminology. I agonize to pick good terms for things. I'm building a new PL curriculum, and after I figured out two key concepts, realized they hadn't taken in past years because I didn't name them. I've spent days agonizing over good names. »
In college I worked through KGP's "Concrete Mathematics", and I'll always remember a great marginal note: "Name and conquer". That phrase is rich in so many ways (even at the level of societies). So I understand, profoundly, why names matter. »
But for too long, and in too many places, we've mistaken naming for understanding. It's best if we can have naming AND understanding. But naming should *follow* understanding, not precede it, especially if it might replace it. »
Anyway, these are things we can debate at a philosophical level. But for me, it's not just philosophical: it's very, very, very personal. Names nearly drove me out of the single intellectual thing I do best and love most. My life would be much poorer without it. »
This is why, in my classes, I have a visceral, negative reaction to students who throw out names, especially ones they don't entirely understand. I know what the other students feel like. I WAS THEM. I won't let happen to them what very nearly happened to me. »
I've developed a bunch of techniques to deal with this. I don't want to make an enthusiastic student feel snubbed. So I've tried to learn how to deflect. If I can't duck the utterance entirely, I just say, "I have no idea what that means". »
Sometimes I get weird looks: "this dude is teaching [accelerated intro CS | PL] at a world-class CS department and doesn't know a standard [CS | PL] term?!?" But mostly they, or at least the others, get it. And when I use the same term 20 minutes later, they all get it. »
In other words, I've gone the implicit route. I could go the explicit route, but it's hard to do it without making it seem like I'm chiding the student, who may merely be exuberant or may even not realize not everybody knows that term. So, it's a balance. I keep working at it. »
But anyway, that's why someone who loves words, loves language, loves finding the most apposite term, loves a good turn of phrase, reacts viscerally to names. Because I want to solve the hard problems — learning — and not the easy ones — naming. But also, because it's personal. »
That's why I care about computing outreach (@Bootstrapworld). I know just how much awful computing education is out there. Others see it as a sacrifice of prestige tokens of academia (papers, grants, awards, etc.). But I'm still driven by my first two days of CS "education". •
