This is a share of a post on Google+ regarding the reason that Professor Drew V. McDermott's claim, "I don't think that you're cut-out for computer science," was actually false.

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After thinking about the issue for approximately 28 years and 2 months, I think that I have finally come up with a valid argument to refute the substance of Professor Drew V. McDermott's claim, "I don't think that you're cut-out for computer science."

McDermott apparently failed to take account of the aspect that computer science includes computer architecture, and that I actually apparently did quite well on an examination in computer architecture in Professor Stanley C. Eisenstat's "Computer Science 323a: Introduction to Systems Programming (in C)" course in fall of 1993.

Since I passed that examination and did not experience any significant difficulties with its subject matter, it follows that it must be the case that I am cut-out for computer architecture. Now, computer architecture is a part of computer science, and it is possible to earn a doctorate-by-thesis-only in computer science by writing 3 research papers on computer architecture. Therefore, I must also be cut-out for computer science as well. Therefore, the substance of McDermott's claim must be false.

What McDermott should have claimed instead was, "I don't think that you're cut-out for either programming or discrete mathematics."

That is most definitely true; I usually catch a cold from prolonged programming, and get a severe migraine headache from prolonged writing of proofs in discrete mathematics (especially in discrete probability theory).

However, computer architecture requires neither programming nor discrete mathematics, and I have never experienced any difficulties in computer architecture (aside from extreme boredom with the subject; however, that does not count as being "not cut-out" for computer architecture).

The next time that I see Professor McDermott, I should correct his claim. I should tell him, "Professor McDermott, you were wrong to think that I was not 'cut-out' for computer science. I actually do quite well in computer architecture, which is a part of computer science, and for which it is possible to earn a doctorate-by-thesis-only in computer science. You should have said that you thought that I was not 'cut-out' for either programming or discrete mathematics, not computer science as a whole. You forgot to notice that computer architecture, which counts as computer science, does not require either programming or discrete mathematics."

Whew.

Now I might finally be able to forget about that most despicable and nasty subject, computer science, and move on to something more pleasant and enjoyable, such as haiku composition, without feeling stupid in front of Professor McDermott anymore. If he still claims that I am stupid because I am "not 'cut-out' for computer science," I'll just earn a doctorate-by-thesis-only in computer architecture, and shove it in his face when I see him the next time.
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