So, uh, I've started doing seminars on the basics of...

So, uh, I've started doing seminars on the basics of networking again, and students computer literacy (in the context of networking, and in the context of them being compsci students) got even worse this year.

The majority of students heard for the first time about
— IP addresses
— What IP even means
— fax
— pagers (this got somewhat better thanks to recent events)
— network topology
— why you can send emails to other email services
— TCP/UDP
— datagrams
— twisted pair

I would like to take a moment to remind you that it is our social responsibility to regularly post memes and jokes about TCP/UDP and other protocols, so the younger generation can educate themselves.

Like 25 September at 18:05 | Open on pony.social

12 comments

Doubleelforbes

@inex - I told a UDP joke last night, but I couldn't tell if anyone got it!

25 September at 18:17 | Open on mastodon.doubleelforbes.co.uk

void

@doubleelforbes @inex
Sorry to ruin your joke but i got it

25 September at 18:49 | Open on mastodon.sdf.org

Inex Code

@void @doubleelforbes hey, I would like to tell you a joke, are you ready to receive it?

25 September at 18:50 | Open on pony.social

void

@inex @doubleelforbes
I understood the message, give it to me.

25 September at 18:51 | Open on mastodon.sdf.org

Inex Code

@void @doubleelforbes This time I used another DNS cache and accidentally sent a joke to your previous address

25 September at 18:53 | Open on pony.social

void

@inex @doubleelforbes
ACK

25 September at 18:55 | Open on mastodon.sdf.org

void

@inex @doubleelforbes
sorry to cut the bit but i understand your issues with tech illiteracy soo well, i was at a course last year and most people were at tech literacy levels i was at 13.
Young adults today ggt obsessed with technology at a young age and use nerd stuff like mastodon and linux now or have no idea where ram is with soo little in between. The weirdest part is most people that attend tech seminars and courses are of the latter group.

25 September at 19:01 | Open on mastodon.sdf.org

Doubleelforbes

@void @inex Oh god we got fragmented packets and DNS leaks in our TCP joke!

Breaking character, I agree, I fight this all too often. Somewhere they started teaching tech without fundamentals. This also becomes a game of telephone when they pass it on and you have to correct 2nd and 3rd generation swiss cheese.

Also - you two convinced me that ending my social exodus and choosing mastodon were both good calls!

25 September at 19:13 | Open on mastodon.doubleelforbes.co.uk

Inex Code

@doubleelforbes @void this, and abstractions created by smartphones, create new challenges for us at the uni department.

Like, for example, previous semester I've been doing C++ programming seminars with the same group. At first everything was kinda fine, but most of them were using an online compiler to do their assignments. I decided to stop that and prepared a seminar where they had to just take a bunch of functions they wrote before, pack them in a single file, write a primitive header file, and write a simple program that uses this "library". Then, compile it by themselves, using GCC. I wrote a detailed manual on every step of this process.

But what I didn't anticipate is that they would struggle with creating files. Opening a folder in VS Code. Understanding that their files are in a tree. So I had to prepare another seminar and resources on what is a file, what is a directory, what is a file system tree, how are they different across Windows/MacOS/Linux, and the basic course on how to move across folders in a terminal.

To the freshmen in a university with high entrance exam scores. With actually difficult exams on informatics. I can't believe that we got there.

@doubleelforbes @void this, and abstractions created by smartphones, create new challenges for us at the uni department.

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25 September at 19:29 | Open on pony.social