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Comment by jrflo | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, kind of hilarious to me that this was posted here. I suppose if you’ve never encountered control systems at all before they are quite simple, elegant, and cool, but I’m surprised any technical person hasn’t come across them at some point.

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I think CS degrees are a bit light on classical theory in the modern day. In Australia CS degrees are what they say on the tin, but in America it seems almost as if CS degrees are anywhere from cybernetics to pure software development

Interesting generalization; that’s almost the opposite of my experience.

A common hiring anecdote we share with people outside tech is literally: “A CS degree doesn’t teach you how to code.”

For me, ~25 years ago in the UC system, it was all math/science/theory-oriented. Some C++/Java that was introduced to get you through all that theory. Learning how to code/actual software engineering comes with practical experience.

My CS degree was a software engineering degree in a trench coat. I went back to give a guest lecture a decade later and the curriculum had changed to be more theory-focused.

(I am quite happy to have gotten the software engineering education.)

That hasn’t been my experience in the US, either personally or from talking to others who took CS degrees.

Keep in mind that plenty of people on HN and in the industry did not take CS degrees in college. We did learn about PIDs, if briefly.

I wouldn't underestimate the value of introductory submissions! Every topic is familiar to some users, no topic is familiar to all users, and let's not forget that newcomers, who still have everything to learn, are particularly welcome.

I've encountered control systems and PID controls, and I still find PID elegant and cool.

https://xkcd.com/1053/

Also <https://xkcd.com/2501/>.

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