Achtung, updates! I'm getting caught up.

The 27 Nov 2005 entry has a meme that I never finished.
The 01 Dec 2005 entry has my Nanowrimo time log (punch in, punch out, write on, write off, Bana-san) for this year. No pain, no gain!

I should have written another "can u pls help me" diatribe yesterday, but instead I'll just mention that today martinsamuel, Tim, Fengyou, Joseph, and I talked about the MATH 510 issue that I've expounded upon to zengeneral and masaga at length. You see, we have a Discrete Math course that is supposed to be taken by sophomores in their 3^rd or 4^th semester, but is often deferred until the 5^th-8^th.

Reasons:

• 1. Our discrete math is not a generic discrete mathematical structures course but a full course in set theory and combinatorics with topics in number theory and abstract algebra.


• 2. Students are ill-prepared for it as a result, or, nearly as often, chicken out because of the reputation of the course.


• 3. They then defer CIS 505 (Programming Languages), CIS 570 (Formal Languages, Automata, and Theory of Computation), and CIS 575 (Intro to Algorithm Analysis) for lack of some foundational concepts.


• 4. They are also ill-prepared for 700-level (upper-division undergrad and first/second-year grad courses) for similar reasons.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Something has to be done!
Apropos of which: to all you CS majors - what do you think is absolutely essential in a second-year discrete math course, and what is accessible?

--
Banazir