Confused but defo techy mother.

rhoobarbcrumble

Hello everyone,

My son is doing a computing course in college(amongst other things). Today he was in a lesson and someone asked the teacher what obfuscation meant. She didn't know so she googled it(which I would do if I wasn't

sure). But get this, after she googled the definition she decided it was a compiler(my son knows what obfuscation means) and she told all the students that and they all wrote it down(apart from my son because he

knows it's mincing the program up). He thinks she will realise her mistake but I think she'll carry on with her thinking. (I take it he didn't like to tell her, or maybe he didn't want to draw attention to himself).

What should I do? - this is supposed to be a really good college....really confused here...

Previously I've also had a problem with my son creating batch files which the high school called 'viruses'. But they were just batch files which only affected the folder they created and nothing else. The teacher just

didn't understand a batch file and decided he was creating a virus because he didn't understand what my son was doing. I understand because I've done programming and I've written games in assembler... but I don't

know what to think when the teachers just don't seem to understand the basics like batch files and that obfuscation is just a way of scrambling something(definitely not compiling it).

And I know what obfuscation means simply because I did English at school...So why doesn't the teacher?

Anyway, my big question after all this is what should I do about it? - they are supposed to be a good college and I don't want to ruin my sons chances by complaining about teachers.

closed

Did the question have any relevance to the lesson content?

Those who can do

However you can't judge someones abilities on a 30 second snippet of a lesson, heard second hand. It's hardly a big deal unless the whole course/lesson content, delivery and structure is garbage

oneblondebrow

I assume you mean Obfuscation and not Obsfucation?, Obfuscation is a way to conceal code within a program so as to in a way make it unreadable by a third party, A lot of software manufacturers use it so as to conceal large portions of their program from copy write thieves.

If it is Obfuscation you mean then i am not surprised the tutor of a general computing course did not know what it meant, If he was doing a specific computer programming course then yes they should know this word

i only recently learnt what it meant and that was because i was looking into compiling a program with C++ but in the previous 13 years in the computer industry with all the qualification received i had never heard the word.

The tutor will only know what the Batch file did if they were to open it up and read what it was written to do, If they let anyone write Batch codes and create Executable files all over the college's servers how would they keep a check on any rogue Virus Batch/Exe files?

As for Obfuscation being a compiler, No it is not but the software can create Obfuscated code and in some cases read it, In a way the software compiles Obfuscated code. But it i were the tutor i would not have my students write it down as a compiler but as what it is, Probably a little advanced for your college student anyway.

debitcardmayhem

Perhaps the OP is using obfuscation to confuse us as to what they are trying to ascertain. But as closed said

Those who can do

and of course the implication is that "those who can't teach"

My advice is not to complain about the teacher, but complain about the standards of education, he/she(the teacher) is a product of a woeful education standards that have declined since the 1980's
Mind you I may be being picky now because the op states

know what to think when the teachers just don't seem to understand the basics like batch files and that obfuscation is just a way of scrambling something(definately not compiling it).

And I know what obfuscation means simply because I did English at school...So why doesn't the teacher?

I definitely would question that reasoning

Chickabiddybex

Maybe not that helpful but if you're so good with tech why can't you cope with line breaks? :P

rhoobarbcrumble

I thought I'd corrected the spelling mistake of obfuscation... because my touch typing fingers decided to do it the wrong way for some reason. English Language teaches you what that word means, not a specific computing course. And as for the batch file, methinks he didn't even know what one was(he sort of had a hissy fit and screamed virus - I suspect dos would have thrown him.
And some compilers may except obfuscated code but only because they weren't compiling but were hiding the original file from snoopy programmers.

closed

There aren't many people who know every word of a language, get him to ask what contiguous means.:D

rhoobarbcrumble

Wow, talk about being shat on... I wanted some help because I didn't know what to do about the teacher not even understanding the word I'm too scared to even try and spell now. Sorry I got definitely wrong, I usually get it right, same with separately. Thanks for your help everyone
Oh no.... a carriage return is now following....
Just a bit nasty don't you think?

rhoobarbcrumble

Oh and oneblondebrow, sorry, but I think you should bleach the other one too.. lol

closed

It's not really a technical question.

If you have sufficient evidence that the teaching standards are consistently poor, complain to the teacher or college head.

Are you or your son paying for this course?

rhoobarbcrumble

No we're not paying for the course - he is at college doing a levels. But I still want him to learn and pass. As for the batch files in high school - you only have to open them in notepad or something so why oneblondebrow thinks an IT teacher would need to know how to open them up is beyond me. Batch files are what people used to mess with in the old days, that's like seriously basic stuff. I could open a batch file in dos. Just like everyone else could windows makes it even easier