I would certainly hope that Ovid remembered incorrectly (although, not for the sake of Ovid because it is unlikely, but for department head). His response sounded more like something a receptionist might say when the phones are too busy. Hopefully Masem was correct and he just forgot to add that they did offer C++. Still, a frightening omission.

I can't imagine a university CS department that doesn't require their students to take at least one semester or quarter of Assembler. For me it was one of my most challenging programming courses and I believe it gave me much needed insight into what was really going on under the hood. Believe it or not, PL/1 was the language used for my first three required programming courses and going straight into assembler from there was a mind altering experience.

If it had been a technical school, I might agree since they usually have a narrower focus (and sometimes offer more obscure languages like RPG--nothing wrong with that mind you).

--Jim