Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucsd!ucsdhub!celit!billd From: billd@fps.com (Bill Davidson) Newsgroups: comp.graphics Subject: Re: Bezier Message-ID: <7387@celit.fps.com> Date: 18 Mar 90 22:58:38 GMT References: <9003141916.AA24614@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <204@usna.NAVY.MIL> Organization: FPS Computing Inc., San Diego CA Lines: 51 In article <9003141916.AA24614@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, 11BDODD@GALLUA.BITNET writes: > Will you please send me an algortihm of Bezier? In article <204@usna.NAVY.MIL> dfr@usna.NAVY.MIL (Prof. David F. Rogers ) writes: >Based on the number of messages of this type from this individual over the >last few months, it looks like she is asking the net to do her homework. >If this is in fact the case, then she is being dishonest. If it is not >then I expect to hear from her to the contrary. In that case I'll >apologize. >If students are given access to the net and then use it in the manner >suggested above, then the only recourse that a Professor has is to >restrict student access to the net. That would be a shame. >Those of us on the net should NOT participate in any activity of this >nature. As much as I respect Prof. Rogers (love his books), I must disagree with this. While I think that the question is a bit stupid due to it's generality, I don't think that there's anything dishonest about asking for pointers to Bezier algorithms. It's not exactly something that a student can just make up from scratch. I personally mailed a pointer to a good common reference for 2D Bezier curves to Dodd but it bounced. The net is a somewhat less valid but more responsive than textbooks. Dodd should have looked in the local libraries first and then tried friends in the same class or other graphics guru types before the net. If she had, she would have found what she wanted since Bezier is fairly well documented in many texts. It's a minor transgression but I don't think it even comes close to equaling academic dishonesty even if it is her homework. She does need to learn to do her own research. It seems several people from her site need to do this too. On the other hand, even if she does get her act together on research, some things are just plain hard to find. For instance, color quantization is glazed over very quickly in a couple of texts but for the most part you can't find it in the standard introductory texts. There is stuff in the journals but that can be quite difficult to find for the beginner (or even the old hand ;-). This particular subject has been handled on the net by the FAQ posting (at least the best introductory reference to the subject is there). Another subject like this is dithering which is glazed over in most introductory texts but is usually covered quite poorly. The FAQ posting sugests Ulichney which is definite overkill (everything you never wanted to know about dithering and were sorry you asked). When someone asks "How do you dither?" on the net, I often send them a summary of dithering techniques that I wrote up for myself when I was learning about it. Bill Davidson billd@fps.com System Administrator celerity!billd@ucsd.edu FPS Computing Inc., San Diego ...!ucsd!celerity!billd 9692 Via Excelencia San Diego CA 92126 (619) 271-9940 Ext. 242