Reply to: Girls and computers

[darmstadt]

Double penetration?

Kinky.

Yep, got a stereo dick...

[MarillionFan]

Left school in '80, still no computers. By '81 doing rather well in DP, thank you!

Double penetration?

Kinky.

[SueEllen]

Men are wired different, basically they have a tendency toward autistic traits (Aspergers)

I was reading a debate about that somewhere else. Some people (including researchers in the area) believe there are more women with autistic traits but hide it well. While others believe that autistic traits are "normal" but are only noticed more now because differences are highlighted more in society.

Anyway as stated there use to be a lot of female programmers around. I found it funny finding out that some of my mates' mums where good with the old punch cards..........

[Platypus]

Over 91% of Computing A level candidates are male. I'd expect a male bias, but 91%?!?

Men are wired different, basically they have a tendency toward autistic traits (Aspergers)

Kathryn Stewart, director of the Orion Academy, a high school for high-functioning kids in Moraga, California, calls Asperger's syndrome "the engineers' disorder." Bill Gates is regularly diagnosed in the press: His single-minded focus on technical minutiae, rocking motions, and flat tone of voice are all suggestive of an adult with some trace of the disorder.

Autistic people have a hard time multitasking - particularly when one of the channels is face-to-face communication. Replacing the hubbub of the traditional office with a screen and an email address inserts a controllable interface between a programmer and the chaos of everyday life. Flattened workplace hierarchies are more comfortable for those who find it hard to read social cues. A WYSIWYG world, where respect and rewards are based strictly on merit, is an Asperger's dream.

A recurring theme in case histories of autism, going all the way back to Kanner's and Asperger's original monographs, is an attraction to highly organized systems and complex machines.

Clumsy and easily overwhelmed in the physical world, autistic minds soar in the virtual realms of mathematics, symbols, and code. Asperger compared the children in his clinic to calculating machines: "intelligent automata" - a metaphor employed by many autistic people themselves to describe their own rule-based, image-driven thought processes.

Wired 9.12: The Geek Syndrome

Whereas you'll find I'm perfectly normal

[darmstadt]

My mother didn't do IT at school either but she did end up programming LEO though...I think the A level in advanced maths helped there (or the art A level!)

[darmstadt]

Left school in 1976, no computers around then. By '87 was doing rather well in IT

Left school in '80, still no computers. By '81 doing rather well in DP, thank you!

[SueEllen]

I don't know how true it is today, but certainly in 1989 the universities weren't the slightest bit interested in students with CS A-Level. You needed to have maths to get onto a CS course, and that was all.

Today it seems to depend on the Uni.

Looked at 2 - one wants Maths, Physics or Computing. The other one only insists on A level Maths.

BTW if you are 17/18 and don't know what you want to do but very good at Maths and had a choice between a Maths and Computer Science degree you are going to go for the Maths degree. Why? Because there are more potential jobs open to someone with a Maths degree.

[VectraMan]

I can't think why girls are not doing the CS A level - unless it is because they have realised it is a total waste of time. According to one of my Uni lecturers, they had to persuade them to unlearn everything they had been taught.

I don't know how true it is today, but certainly in 1989 the universities weren't the slightest bit interested in students with CS A-Level. You needed to have maths to get onto a CS course, and that was all.

[alreadypacked]

It'd be nice if some of them washed (themselves & their clothes) once or twice a term.

Maybe if you had more females in the class, that would not be a problem

[alreadypacked]

Ok, I'll take this seriously.

I was always good at science and difficult sums so specialised in that for A levels. In one of my classes I was the only girl, in another I was one of three (in both years) so that would have been 90% male. I didn't feel discouraged by the boys or the media.

When I did my CS degree it was about 80% male, ditto for the MSc (roughly).

I can't think why girls are not doing the CS A level - unless it is because they have realised it is a total waste of time. According to one of my Uni lecturers, they had to persuade them to unlearn everything they had been taught.

I don't agree with that, I feel my CS degree showed me how to think in a computer environment, how to look at problems and find solution, or maybe that was just me.

For example: a common problem was passing exams. So I looked at past papers and realised there were no common questions, but there were common solutions asked in different ways. Problem solved.

[Zippy]

Ok, I'll take this seriously.

I was always good at science and difficult sums so specialised in that for A levels. In one of my classes I was the only girl, in another I was one of three (in both years) so that would have been 90% male. I didn't feel discouraged by the boys or the media.

When I did my CS degree it was about 80% male, ditto for the MSc (roughly).

I can't think why girls are not doing the CS A level - unless it is because they have realised it is a total waste of time. According to one of my Uni lecturers, they had to persuade them to unlearn everything they had been taught.

[PRC1964]

How many did you start with this year?

Give him a break, he has to eat a few of them and the smell of Lynx that puts him off the male ones.

[alreadypacked]

Wot?

Now?

1.

Still attending (I nearly typed "coming") after a term & 2 weeks.

Obviously a stayer.

How many did you start with this year?

[alreadypacked]

Nope.

Played Lunar Lander.

Zeity, how many females in your classes?

[OwlHoot]

I thought that was a mainframe game?

I thought it was Wilmslow's dating technique