Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!mephisto!prism!gg10 From: gg10@prism.gatech.EDU (Gregory L. Galloway) Newsgroups: comp.graphics Subject: Re: Bezier (GRIPES about comp.graphics!) Summary: hmmm... Message-ID: <7169@hydra.gatech.EDU> Date: 17 Mar 90 19:57:29 GMT References: <9003141916.AA24614@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <204@usna.NAVY.MIL> <1990Mar17.025303.17752@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology Lines: 72 In article <1990Mar17.025303.17752@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>, elf@dgp.toronto.edu (Eugene Fiume) writes: > In article <204@usna.NAVY.MIL> dfr@usna.NAVY.MIL (Prof. David F. Rogers ) writes: > >> ... A lot of stuff about student dishonesty, homework, expected apologies, >> etc. > > ... A lot of stuff about hoaxes and jokes, abuses, etc. I don't think this is a joke or a hoax. Clearly from the signature this is a deaf individual from Gaulladet (sp?) University. I replied once before to this person and her friend to give them bibliographic information so that they could better find their sources. The root of their problem seems to be their lack of a good technical library or book store. They are unable to get a hold of sources that a lot of take for granted. I could be wrong, but this is how it appears to me. Even the messages read like someone who is unable or has difficultly speaking, i.e. few or incorrect verbs, etc. On the subject of course work and texts abuses, I have never taken a computer graphics course except for three at Siggraph. I doubt that I will take any more. Computer graphics is a relatively young field. Most information about it is found in books like those by Rogers and Siggraph proceedings. Now, I am not a student and I bought Rogers' book. If I were a student would I be expected to reinvent such this a Bezier curves from scratch without a book. If I am allowed to use a book but can't get access to one, what then? This may come as a shock to most people but it appears to me that computer science courses in computer graphics teach people existing (almost fundamental) algorithms from a text like Rogers (it is used here at Tech) and expect that students be able to implement them in code. Most people never ever invent a new or revolutionary algorithm, they just learn how the old ones work and how to use and code them. This seems to be life. But from learning the old ones and implementing them, a few go off and see a new way of doing things, a way to speed things up. They find a new algorithm. I think it appropriate that if an individual cannot find a source of an algorithm in their area, that they be allowed to publicly ask how to get it. A valid response may be here's the address of the publisher and the ISBN number, send them a check. Lets help people get up to speed and avoid reinventing the wheel so that the whole community can benefit from their efforts. You may be cutting off the next Bresenham. We need LESS flaming in all net groups, especially computer graphics. Too many times I have seen people get blasted from asking simple questions. It cuts down on the communication because it drives people away. I'm also disappointed that comp.graphics does not discuss that many algorithms for realistic three-dimensional computer graphics. Most of the traffic is taken up by requests for 2D PC stuff, and GIF-type images and converters. Last time I posted a question about scan-line and A-buffer, only four people responded: Loren Carpenter (the author), Charles Grant (former siggraph tutorial teacher), Tony Apocada (pixar employee), and Charlie Gibson (from rythym and hues). Now this was a very impressive group of people, but where were the responses from the countless anonymous people have implemented this algorithms. They have better things to do than read this group I guess, or too busy Ray-tracing to care about any other algorithm. Greg Galloway Georgia Tech Research Institute Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0280 (404)894-3357 gg10@prism.gatech.edu -- Greg Galloway // gg10@prism.gatech.edu // (404)894-3357 GTRI/EML/EOD, Georgia Inst of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0280