Here is one thing: should beginners know the history of their majors?
This problem came up with learning Linked List, a type of data structure in CS. Though the professor had mentioned how linked lists are used in closing and opening tabs to avoid linear costs, I still had no idea when linear costs became an issue, who came up with linked lists as a solution, and how this solution was being widely used.
I feel like the CS syllabus focuses more on application of knowledge but ignores “why” — as a beginner of the CS field, I am confused about how CS as a subject develops step by step until I looked up Wikipedia, which gives me the history of CS.
Psychology is the opposite with lots of introduction to its history, changes, experiments, and branches. At least, with General Psychology in the 1st semester, I have built a rough picture of how each psychology branch looks like, how they developed step by step, and why some of them cannot flip order (with timeline). The flaws are (updated on Apr 19): 1. contents between some approaches are duplicated; 2. On the syllabus, cognitive psychology was not mandatory and even not offered at our college, so I lost connection with recent studies.(Correction on Apr 19: Cog approach are offered. They're separated into Behaviral Neuroscience and Perception & Cognition. The last 2 units for PSYC 213 are related to recent research.)
Is there any subject that organizes its history and recent studies well? Yes, it’s physics (though I am not a physics student). I have looked at its syllabus and found that it covers classical in freshman year and modern physics in the second year, following timelines of why and how it has been developing.
Thus, for those who wanna learn computer science or AI, in your bachelors life, it would be better to double major or minor in another subject with an abundant introduction of history so that when doing research in the future, you don’t think of studies as a tool (current CS syllabus could give you a bad habit ). Or, if you don’t wanna double major, start with assembly language (like playing SHENZHEN I/O) while learning C++, or search online about CS history regardless of its shorter timeline. Or, you can choose CE and learn some circuit, if your college or university has the engineering pathway.
If you wanna work immediately after bachelor’s degree or master's degree, or want a PhD title and publish more papers as soon as possible (for a successful life rather than thinking about knowledge), ignore my suggestions.
Last modified on 2023-04-19