weemba@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Matthew P. Wiener) (02/17/86)
Followups to net.lang, please! In article <2669@gatech.CSNET> jeff@gatech.UUCP (Jeff Lee) writes: >>[Whether CS people should even be *allowed* to make such mathematical >>decisions is another question. > >I am afraid that I must rank this statement right up there with the >statement that was made about a year ago that only computer scientists >should be the people allowed to program. Being a computer scientist >with an interest in math, I find in both statements some of the most >ignorant and arrogant attitudes that I have seen just about anywhere >(in a professional situation). I suppose that you also believe that >only professional mechanics should work on your car, that professional >drivers should drive it, that architects should be the only people >allowed to design your house, or that professional cooks should be the >only people allowed to cook your meals? I am afraid that I do all these >things and will continue to do so. You do all those things for yourself and for people who know and trust you! If you were to make something used by hundreds or thousands of people every day, I would hope you were a professional. I for one would not work in a skyscraper built by an amateur. Concerning the ignorance and arrogance in the statement. The statement was not made in a vacuum, but you conveniently deleted its context: two *explicit* examples of CS knuckleheadedness in the implementation of *mathematical* functions. The statement was arrogant, but certainly not ignorant. Indeed, several other postings to the effect that "Fortran does it that way" or "Ada does it that way" or "the naive user wants it that way" or "I don't know/care, it looks OK to me" can only confirm my views about (some) CS people. They strike me as being rather ignorant and arrogant, but going the other way: it was implemented that way so it can't be wrong, or it is too late to change, or who cares what users want, etc. ucbvax!brahms!weemba Matthew P Wiener/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720