Today I got a rude awakening in my ITIS2300 course, my instructor (who moved to COIT from COB), thinks too much like a person of business in the way he decides to cover the history of the Internet. I was expecting a lot more detail and a lot less “fluff” and inacuracy. The first thing that pissed me off was the inacurate description of the first octet of an IPv4 address. He stated that it is indicating a physical location. While its true that each of the networks is delegates to one of seven regional management organizations, as a general rule, the geography thing doesn’t apply. Also, he seemed totally oblivious to the classes (A – E) of IP addresses. The man states himself to be a long-time instructor of IT and the history of computing, but he is nothing but a sophist professing his “understanding” of IT. Next thing, (this will be no shock to those of you who know me well) there was no mention of the involvement of Jon Postel, Dave Crocker, or any of the founding fathers of the standardized Internet. I know I am somewhat of a Postelian nazi with my level of admiration of the Postelian way, but could Mr. Long not have mentioned him even once? Come on, the guy gave most of his life to the Internet, but instead we have to deal with this Tim Berners-Lee shmuck? So Lee developed HTTP, and HTML, what does it matter if he uses his inventions for really horrid thing like forcing conventions upon people?
Next issue with Mr. Long, he cusses like a sailer (well, he used to be one, but thats no excuse). I expect some profanity because of the fact that this is a University (and now that I think of it, had to deal with it some in High School with Mrs. Winders), but to make a point of including something vulgar in every sentance is not what I expected when entering that classroom. Maybe he left COB because he was kicked out for being “unprofessional”?
Something else that bothers me is how easily Mr. Long can just blow something off. I made a simple comment about the absence of Dr. Postel, and he felt the need to become defensive and in a quite rude mannor state that he didn’t have time to include everything. Wonder if hes ever seen an RFC.
ok, rant done… next fish!