IIT Bombay: CS 699: Software Laboratory
Friday, August 27, 2010 by Abhinav Maurya
This is a blog about the Fall 2010 offering of CS 699, the Software Laboratory course @ IIT Bombay.
Update 27/08/2010: This course is a course which makes little sense to me. It aims to teach us LaTeX/Beamer, Python, Shell Scripting, and Web Design (HTML/CSS/Javascript). It is not understandable how an institution comparable in quality and reputation to some of the best institutions around the globe can place such a ridiculous course at the graduate level, and worse still, assign it credits more than any other course in the department (our normal courses carry 6 credits). The course carries 8 credits which is a high number by our credit structure. I do not understand why the course cannot have lesser credits or be split across the two semesters allowing more time for the assimilation of the skills that it attempts to inculcate in us. The course can also be structured as a month long audit primer that graduate students take prior to beginning their first year CSE electives. In a more general sense, it is a manifestation of the rigidity which is often found in Indian educational institutions. The blanket assumption that these skills are necessary and must be shoved down our throats in a single highly loaded semester is beyond my comprehension. Here's a past student's view on the subject.