TITLE: If Only We Had More Time...
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: April 14, 2007  3:38 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
Unlike
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2005-04.html#e2005-04-29T17_33_56.htm">
   some phrases</A>
I find myself saying in class, I don't mind saying this one.

Used for the wrong reasons, it would signal a problem.  "If we
had more time, I would teach you this important concept, but..."
... I've left it out because I didn't plan the course properly.
... I've left it out because preparing to teach it well would
take too much time.  ... I'm running behind; I wasted too much
time speaking off-topic.  There are lots of ways that not
covering something important is wrong.

But there is a very good reason why it's not possible to cover
every topic that comes up.  There is so much more!   There are
more interesting ideas in this world -- in programming languages,
in object-oriented programming, in algorithms -- than we can cover
in a 3-credit, 15-week course.  The ideas of computing are bigger
than any one course, and some of the cool things we do in class
are only the beginning.   This is a good thing.  Our discipline
is deep, and it rewards the curious with unexpected treasures.

More practically, "If only we had more time..." is a cue to
students who <EM>do</EM> have more time -- graduate students
looking for research projects, undergrad honors students
looking for thesis topics, an undergrads who might be thinking
of grad school down the line.
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