Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!midway!news From: gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: Re: The programming CULT (WOW!) Message-ID: <1990Aug6.204845.1044@midway.uchicago.edu> Date: 6 Aug 90 21:21:58 GMT Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator) Organization: University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Lines: 68 ------- In article , pete@titan.rice.edu (Pete Keleher) writes... > >gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu writes: [...] > >>There are of course many academics who have led to the innovations we take for ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >>granted today, but I personally admire someone like Bill Atkinson or Andy ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ [...] >First, "ivory tower"-types in no way inhibit or constrain, or even comment >on what "do'ers" such as Bill and Andy create. > >Second, Bill and Andy create with tools that "ivory tower"-types make >possible. If you don't see the vital connection between basic research done >in the last thirty years and tools such as the Macintosh or Hypercard, >maybe carpentry really is the field for you. :-) Hm. It might help you if you had read what I had said. I've helpfully underlined it above. Admittedly, what I originally wrote was overly general and simplistic, which is why I posted a followup explaining that I didn't mean to seem so pejorative in my assessment of academics/academia. Thanks, though, for your career counseling. My only advice to you is to read, think, and _then_ write. It would probably help you. > >Third, creativity is what basic research is all about. I'll grant you that >much research is unimaginative and only incrementally better than what has >come before, but the proportion of such noise has to be much much lower >than the per centage of programmers who are uncreative. I am not thoroughly familiar with CS academic research. I am fairly familiar with Business academic research. And I must say, much of _that_ seems fairly divorced from the real world. So perhaps my extrapolations were not entirely appropriate. > >No one denies that Bill and Andy are very creative, but weren't the people >that came up with the transister a bit more creative? The discovery of the transistor was perhaps more important, and perhaps those who did so were "geniuses". But more creative? Not in my opinion. >The analogy with carpentry and civil engineering is apt. A carpenter can >build a neat house, but it takes a civil engineer to come up with a new >type of house. So you're saying that you need a formal academic background to come up with truly original ideas in programming/CS? Well, that view should at least be popular with universities. It is not one that I subscribe to. Wasting net bandwidth on another flame war :-( , Robert ============================================================================ = gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu * generic disclaimer: * "It's more fun to = = * all my opinions are * compute" = = * mine * -Kraftwerk = ============================================================================