Exactly two days after my pleasant chat with a developer of Shaheen Blue Gene computer, the 14th most powerful computer in the world, I start a course in Electric Engineering department at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) called Digital Systems Engineering. It talks about the architecture of microprocessors and how to program them. Sounds fun so far, only thing is we’re gonna study the 8086 and 8088 processors which are, to computers, like dinosaurs to us. Now, one might argue that we should know the basics of microprocessing in order to understand more modern processors. My only question is, why, then, do we need to go all the way and build those old processors if we’re intended to use, learn and perhaps help develop much more modern processors? Why not know the simple basics and just move on?
I don’t want to start ranting about my Uni, I know I will not stop, but it’s something I noticed in KFUPM. They tend to teach some obsolete technologies for a reason I never figured out. Another example, there is a course that teaches Fortran language (Old and almost unused anymore language) and many departments require it in order to finish freshman year! Oh well, I hope one day someone with a little sense changes that.
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yassir
