johnf@apollo.uucp (John Francis) (02/06/86)
I was disapointed (although not suprised) to see abuse piled on the head of Tom Duff for his comments on an earlier diatribe. I felt that the tone of his message was astonishingly constrained, and that he made a cogent analysis of the attitude shown by other contributors to this newsgroup (an analysis only too well confirmed by later submissions). If this is the Tom Duff that I think it is then he knows what he is talking about - he probably has a better knowledge of mathematics than most of the other contributors to this newsgroup, and has found the synergy between mathematics and computer science so often lacking in this industry. If you don't believe me, just attend the next conference where he is giving a paper and listen with an open mind. And before people start attacking ME for not knowing mathematics or computer science - I have a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University, and fourteen years experience in the computer industry.
brad@gcc-milo.ARPA (Brad Parker) (02/07/86)
In article <2bc83cf6.917@apollo.uucp> johnf@apollo.uucp (John Francis) writes: >I was disapointed (although not suprised) to see abuse piled on the head >of Tom Duff for his comments on an earlier diatribe. I felt that the tone >of his message was astonishingly constrained, and that he made a cogent >analysis of the attitude shown by other contributors to this newsgroup I agree with this. I found his submission interesting and imformative. I'm suprised that people took issue with it. (Now Tom, how about some nice pictures to elucidate your point ;-) -- J Bradford Parker General Computer (HyperDrive Beach) harvard!gcc-milo!brad "She said, 'Just drive.'" -heard on the radio.
gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) (02/09/86)
In article <2bc83cf6.917@apollo.uucp> johnf@apollo.uucp (John Francis) writes: > ... >If this is the Tom Duff that I think it is then he knows what he is >talking about ... > ... >And before people start attacking ME for not knowing mathematics or >computer science - I have a degree in mathematics from Cambridge >University, and fourteen years experience in the computer industry. I don't see how anyone can guess whether you know mathematics or not -- you used NO mathematics in your article. That is the trouble with "appeal to authority" arguments. If Duff said that (-a)/b = -(a/b) by definition, then he was wrong. In the discussion to which he was contributing, integer (truncating) division, and remainder vs. modulo, was the topic. The "definition" applies when one is talking about a field or division ring, but that is not the case under discussion. The "/" symbol does not mean the same thing for integer division as it does for division of reals, and indeed under the best choice of rules the above equation does not hold. I already posted a reference to Knuth, whose discussion everyone should read before commenting further on this topic.