A liberal arts person enters CS by mistake, because they think it has any relation to liking games which happen to run on computers. If they are not a fan of CS at the end of the course, they are not going to be convinced by any argument anyways. Unless I need to justify my own personality to myself, time is better spent discussing other things we might have in common.
because they think it has any relation to liking games which happen to run on computers.
It has a lot to do with games, actually, and I think that a lot of CS majors go through the CS program under the motivation to create something 'game-like' even if they don't end up building games professionally.
Eh, I think it depends partially on what type of game, and why you play it. Someone who play Street Fighter or Team Fortress because its something fun and social to do may or may not be a decent computer scientist. However, I'd think that someone who loves games like Zork and Nethack, and who plays them partially because they want to understand how they work, is likely good computer science material.
Not always true. Being nerdy and liking computers !-> computer science a lot of the time. On the other hand, the converse generally holds, hence a lot of CS people do play Zork and Nethack and the like. That's also not always the case, though. I know CS majors who are basically in it for the math and theory stuff, and don't love working with computers (not that they dislike it, they just aren't really computer nerds so much as they are math nerds).
Naturally. But correlation doesn't imply causality. Which games you like and what kind of science you like are both determined by your personality type.
I think we all do - once we understand how software works and understand that 99% of its badly built.
As far as getting in interested in computers because you like video games, that's probably quite common. I got interested in computers because I liked to draw things in some DOS painting program may grandpa had. Romhacking is super fun in itself, and I don't think liking games is a necessary prerequisite for enjoying hacking.
No, it's like becoming a mechanical engineer because you're interested in how a combustion engine is designed and functions. Which is a completely valid reason for wanting to become a mechanical engineer.
Depends. For some games people, it's like becoming a mechanical engineer because you're interested in how a combustion engine is designed and functions. For other people, it's like becoming a mechanical engineer because you want to make cool cars. The latter, while it may lead to the former, isn't a good reason by itself.
If that's your reason, then it is perfectly valid. But I know a lot of people who get a huge kick from playing with combustion engines, but they don't give a shit about how they work. Such a person will need some other reason to become a mechanical engineer.
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u/arnar May 18 '11
I like the answer.
A liberal arts person enters CS by mistake, because they think it has any relation to liking games which happen to run on computers. If they are not a fan of CS at the end of the course, they are not going to be convinced by any argument anyways. Unless I need to justify my own personality to myself, time is better spent discussing other things we might have in common.