tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post3647044612429948820..comments2024-03-10T05:26:42.148-04:00Comments on My Biased Coin: A Good Problem to HaveMichael Mitzenmacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06738274256402616703noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-44251749531397157112012-02-06T10:24:14.637-05:002012-02-06T10:24:14.637-05:00I hope to become a software engineer in the near f...I hope to become a software engineer in the near future, and have been surprised at the unanimity with which people I know in the industry disregard the importance of a solid background in algorithms. <br /><br />The people I'm talking about are senior engineers at companies like Google and Akamai, who I would expect to be near the top of their profession.<br /><br />Do you have a sense of how useful it is for software engineers to have gone through a class like this? <br /><br />The more valued skills seem to be the ability to write clear code with short methods and exhaustive unit tests. That is, software crafting rather than computer science.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-21854798390415786672012-01-30T12:49:33.833-05:002012-01-30T12:49:33.833-05:00That would be far the biggest enrollment ever in t...That would be far the biggest enrollment ever in that course -- just checked my records from the years I taught it, first as AM 119 and then under its current number.Harry Lewishttp://people.seas.harvard.edu/~lewis/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-53069025199755890132012-01-29T11:36:30.609-05:002012-01-29T11:36:30.609-05:00The corresponding course at Brown went from 54 to ...The corresponding course at Brown went from 54 to 110 (with a gap year), so you're doing much better than me!Claire Mathieunoreply@blogger.com