Music majors make fun of eachother all the time. How do you get a guitarist to stop playing? Put a piece of music in front of them. How do you keep people from stealing your violin? Put it in a viola case. Why did the music producer cross the road? Because that's the way The Beatles did it, man. I've got a million of 'em.
I love my new major but I still get this momentary cringe every time I remember that I'm getting a Bachelors of Arts rather than a Bachelors of Science.
I don't see any issue with people who have better degrees belittling those that don't. When the bottom falls out on the western economy in a few years, it'll all they'll have as we work chained to the assembly line for our Chinese overlords.
Again, my point is, it's okay when Joe and I mock each other's majors and laugh about it. It's not funny when SE majors tell me "you don't learn real code" and tell me my major sucks.
I hesitate to say this, but really, when I compare the technical work I see come out of Game Design majors at various schools on both the art end and the coding end, they are significantly weaker compared to those who concentrated full on in CS or Digital Art. The programs are either teaching you to A) Be someone who directs and works with actual game balance and numbers or be a Jack of all Trades, master of none of video game production. We have 2 Game Design masters graduates at work, and, while they are wonderful at what they do, they rarely, if ever, touch the code or Maya. Last time we got someone who was "Game Production" Programmer as opposed to RIT CS, his code was super wonky in places. Not to diss your major. After all, I'm a film major, so they are a little bit similar - we learn to write, to direct, to storyboard, etc. Seriously, though, I do see the problem with people who study "Game Design" being ill-prepared to handle hard core game source code.
I love my new major but I still get this momentary cringe every time I remember that I'm getting a Bachelors of Arts rather than a Bachelors of Science.
And what, exactly, is wrong with an arts degree?
Nothing. It's just, for most of my life, I always imagined I would grow up to be a scientist. I always had a love for science, was more logical than most people in my family, nurtured my skills in deduction and reason, inquisitive, creative, and I'm certainly the most technically skilled person in, at least, my immediate family.
Going into college and realizing that the right place for me isn't in the sciences, but in the arts program, of all places, is still just a bit jarring.
I know how you feel. My childhood idols were Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawkings, and everyone, myself included, thought I'd end up a scientist or an astronaut. When I look at where I am in life, every time I hear the voice of my ten year old self screaming in frustration.
@Sonic: M.C. Escher was a mathematician before he was an artist. There's also architecture (Frank Lloyd Wright, Minoru Yamasaki), medical/scientific illustration, and dozens of other science-related arts.
Again, my point is, it's okay when Joe and I mock each other's majors and laugh about it. It's not funny when SE majors tell me "you don't learn real code" and tell me my major sucks.
I hesitate to say this, but really, when I compare the technical work I see come out of Game Design majors at various schools on both the art end and the coding end, they are significantly weaker compared to those who concentrated full on in CS or Digital Art. The programs are either teaching you to A) Be someone who directs and works with actual game balance and numbers or be a Jack of all Trades, master of none of video game production. We have 2 Game Design masters graduates at work, and, while they are wonderful at what they do, they rarely, if ever, touch the code or Maya. Last time we got someone who was "Game Production" Programmer as opposed to RIT CS, his code was super wonky in places. Not to diss your major. After all, I'm a film major, so they are a little bit similar - we learn to write, to direct, to storyboard, etc. Seriously, though, I do see the problem with people who study "Game Design" being ill-prepared to handle hard core game source code.
I understand this. I never said I was going to be as good at code as an SE or CS major. However, the insult "you don't learn real code" is nonsensical at best. Java, C#, C++, SQL, HTML/CSS, Javascript and jQuery, and Actionscript are all real coding languages. I might not have the basic understanding of code for the sake of code like a CS major, but I do understand code enough to use it as the backdrop of how to make a game. And I do combine this with other talents. I think eventually, RIT will change to be more like Digipen, where there are Game Art, Game Programming, AND Game Design majors, with Game Design being the hybrid, but right now we only have Game Design. The first year is a lot of core, solid programming, but afterwards you only have a few required core coding classes (that can be used to make games anyways), so people's skills probably start to diminish.
Java, C#, C++, SQL, HTML/CSS, Javascript and jQuery, and Actionscript are all real coding languages.
SQL is basically a scripting language. HTML/CSS are styling, not coding at all. jQuery is a library.
I'd like to point out that Javascript an Actionscript are scripting languages, C# is basically C++ plus a .net library, and SQL isn't a scripting language, more of an interface langauge (I don't know the terminology myself)
99% of the time javascript is used as a scripting language, but you can build almost anything with it. Stuff like Node.js comes to mind. I would not disparage someone who was a javascript expert and say they were not programming in a "real language" because I know better, they might be a better programmer than me by a huge margin.
Similarly, even if query languages are not programming languages, I do not disparage a person that has an extremely high level of mastery in them. It is its own highly technical specialization. It's a different skill set, but you can do so much more than most people will ever touch if you are inclined.
Edit: Also programmer dick-waving contests are silly things.
I do not disparage a person that has an extremely high level of mastery in them.
Oh, I didn't mean for that at all. Normally I wouldn't care if someone 'mislabeled' a programming or scripting language. The way he lobbed all those in together made me pause though. Besides that, I have respect for anyone who is skilled, even if that skill isn't important to me.
I'm just saying, my first code experience ever was 10 weeks of Java. That was followed up by 10 weeks of C#. The transition to the new syntax probably took a week or so. They're practically identical.
And I'm sorry I don't understand the code for the sake of its code-i-ness. I only understand it for its functional applications in my field, and its relation to other code that I already know.
And I'm sorry I don't understand the code for the sake of its code-i-ness. I only understand it for its functional applications in my field, and its relation to other code that I already know.
And that's why CS and SE majors make fun of you. Not saying it's fair, but that's why they do it.
Not cool, Korean doods. "Hooray for Japan earthquake."
Jeez Louise. People, stop that. The people getting hurt by the earthquake never even were alive during WWII for the most part.
Comments
Not to diss your major. After all, I'm a film major, so they are a little bit similar - we learn to write, to direct, to storyboard, etc. Seriously, though, I do see the problem with people who study "Game Design" being ill-prepared to handle hard core game source code.
Going into college and realizing that the right place for me isn't in the sciences, but in the arts program, of all places, is still just a bit jarring.
Similarly, even if query languages are not programming languages, I do not disparage a person that has an extremely high level of mastery in them. It is its own highly technical specialization. It's a different skill set, but you can do so much more than most people will ever touch if you are inclined.
Edit: Also programmer dick-waving contests are silly things.
And I'm sorry I don't understand the code for the sake of its code-i-ness. I only understand it for its functional applications in my field, and its relation to other code that I already know.
"Hooray for Japan earthquake."
Warning: Article contains screenshots from the video.