This article is classified "Real"
About 200 years ago, the British started sending people to Australia for crimes that they had committed. That wasn't the problem. The problem was, what these people were meant to do when they were released. Faced with a long boat ride back to a land where it never stopped raining, many of these people decided to stay. They did rather foolish things like form governments, which eventually (180 or so years omitted) lead to the need for an Australian computer industry. "What has this got to do with the University of Western Sydney," you may ask. Well, this computer industry found it needed people skilled in all areas of Computer Science, not the theory-filled clones that were coming from all other uni's around the world. What was needed were mean, hard-nosed code crunchers, and analysts who ate classical models for breakfast. The University of Western Sydney heard this call and responded like no other. It created students who owned an assembler and weren't afraid to use it; it made them learn that RTFM is not really user-friendly programming; and it made analysts who were willing to kill to get a decent development budget. After some whining from the financial sector, it finally relented and taught them COBOL, but only if the students promised never to use it. "So what is the problem," you ask. "Why do the students wince every time they see their academic transcripts?" There was only one problem, but it was a big one. The NAME!!! Between the time that the degree was worked out and any students were actually admitted to the course, bureaucracy stepped in. It was not a Computer Science degree they said - there was not enough theory. It was not a Computer Engineering degree they said - not enough systems design. Everyone agreed that it was far to intense for a Information Systems degree, so what to call it? The bureaucracy in their infinite wisdom decided that because the degree concentrated more on the application of skills than mere theory, that it would be called "Applied" something. There was no question that the degree was a computing one so they said it was "in computing." After much infighting between departments (possible names were Bachelors of Applied Finance in Computing, Bachelors of Applied Biology in Computing and even Bachelors of Applied Sheep Husbandry in Computing), it was finally decided that Science and Technology could have the degree and it became Bachelors of Applied Science in Computing. You still don't see this as a problem? Well, there is more. After the name was decided and the first students started to enroll, a slimy little accountant got to learn of this new degree (NB: I have no proof that the accountant was slimy, but based on other accountants I have met I think it is a pretty safe bet). This accountant noticed that the Bachelors of Applied Science in Computing was really much too long a name, and after convincing the university board (with a few dozen cases of Foster's), the name was cut to just Bachelors of Applied Science. Hundreds of students were left trying to convince prospective employers that they really did know what they were talking about (which in a few cases they actually did). So hear my warning, all computing students around the world. Do not complain when they teach you FORTRAN; smile when they tell you that BASIC is really a highly-structured language: at least you have the name.