> (Basically his idea was that we'd all go out into the world and become 
> either computer consultants, or maybe Java programmers, and at that level 
> of abstraction, petty details like what addressing modes your CPU supports 
> or which IRQ services the serial port are irrelevant because your compiler 
> / OS will handle all that for you. I mean, it's not like any of us are 
> going to develop device drivers or anything, right?)

It seemed during my degree (Engineering) that they expected everyone was 
going to go out there and design a finite element analysis software package 
(note I said design, not code), or come up with some new standards for 
building bridges, or use some exotic material for some new purpose.  Nobody 
seemed to imagine that some people might want to actually go and work on 
more mundane things that most Engineers do, hence nobody taught us how to 
make a complete 2D Engineering drawing (either by hand or on the computer), 
or how to use a modern 3D CAD package, or how to use any software to help 
with electronic circuit design.

> During my course, I recall seeing exactly one equation.

Haha, I recall seeing equations in my dreams (or should that be 
nightmares?).  Seriously, I think I did the most theoretical Engineering 
course in existence.

> So anyway, that's what *I* did during my degree. Anybody out there do 
> anything more interesting?

I really enjoyed my University course, for me most subjects were really 
interesting.  The only one I really got bored with was Thermofluid Mechanics 
(all about steam cycles, heat cycles etc, I think we just had a bad 
lecturer).

Here's a list of the 1st and 2nd year courses that everyone had to do: (3rd 
and 4th year you could choose from a much longer list, but basically just 
specialisations of the below subjects)

Kinematics and Dynamics in 2D
Dynamics of Rigid Bodies in 3D
Mechanical Vibrations
Thermofluid Mechanics I & II
Structural Mechanics I & II
Materials I & II
Physical Principles of Electronics and Electromagnetics
Linear Circuits and Devices I & II
Electrical Power
Electromagnetic Fields and Waves
Linear Systems and Control
Comms Fourier Transforms & Signal & Data Analysis
Digital Circuits and Information Processing
Mathematics
Vector Calculus
Linear Algebra
Computing
Dimensional Analysis
Engineering in Society
Product Design
Structural Design Project (ie building a bridge!)

The best part was the robot design project.  We were put into teams of 6 and 
told to make a robot that drove around a track marked by white lines on a 
black board and picked up containers.  The containers would either be empty 
or full, and we had to move the containers to the appropriate bin.  In most 
teams 2 people actually made the robot mechanics, 2 did the electronics 
(motor drive control, interface to PC, etc) and 2 did the software.  Was 
really good fun, especially as the quicker your robot completed the task the 
more points you got.

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