[ExI] standard form for creating a test, was: RE: humanities plus schmooze

[BillK]

On 12/9/12, Mike Dougherty wrote:
<snip>
> Typing (a la qwerty) is an old protocol you learned once and have
> forgotten was an acquired skill.  Your google-fu is an acquired skill
> you forget that many people (still, sadly) lack.  I suggested you
> learn SQL because it actually IS a language of math (set theory) and
> we DO teach Venn diagrams in first and second grade.  Even if you
> never translated any of your Excel programs to SQL, learning SQL
> (structured query language) would be at least as useful a mental
> exercise as that Stanford AI course.  The version of SQL I'm using at
> work every day hasn't changed since 1992 - if 20 years of stability in
> the language is a fad, then I'm not sure you could be convinced any of
> it isn't a fad.  :)
>

I may be mistaken, but I don't think Spike wants to be a programmer,
even in SQL.
He might be misleading you with his descriptions of torturing Excel.

I think he would rather problem solve with something like Sage.
<http://www.sagemath.org/index.html>
Mission: Creating a viable free open source alternative to Magma,
Maple, Mathematica and Matlab.

(runs on Windows as well).


BillK