Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!ogicse!uidaho!groucho.mrc.uidaho.edu!windley From: windley@cs.uidaho.edu (Phil Windley) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: Theoretical computer scientists know a thing or two Message-ID: Date: 28 Sep 90 16:43:10 GMT References: <392sis-a@massey.ac.nz> <12007@chaph.usc.edu> <409@pirates.UUCP> <12235@chaph.usc.edu> Sender: @groucho Organization: University of Idaho CS Dept. Lines: 36 In-Reply-To: wilber@aludra.usc.edu's message of 28 Sep 90 07:31:24 GMT In article <12235@chaph.usc.edu> wilber@aludra.usc.edu (John Wilber) writes: Sure, but which came first, the theory or the compilers? I have "discovered" new ways of doing things in programs many times before only to later discover that someone had already given it some fancy theoretical name. That's exactly the point. If you had known the theory you wouldn't have had to rediscover it. Are you really espousing a model for our discipline that requires everyone to rediscover the important concepts each time. Besides, the compilers (actually we're talking about parsers) written before CFL's were studied were really not much fun to write. Now there are nice tools like YACC that do most of that drudgery for you. Thank the theoreticians. In a lot of ways, you're like a blacksmith in the late 1800's who sees mechanical engineers encroaching upon his turf and says "I never needed no calculus to shoe no horse. That's all a bunch of high-falutin' mathematics that don't have no practical application!" He was right about shoeing the horse of course, but dead wrong about the usefulness of mathematical analysis in building mechanical structures. (That's really what you're railing against: mathematical analysis, not theory). You'll probably go through your career feeling this way and probably die feeeling you were right. If I had to bet though, I'd say that 100 years from now, your great grandchildren will be using mathematics in CS that you haven't dreamed of. -- Phil Windley | windley@ted.cs.uidaho.edu Department of Computer Science | University of Idaho | Moscow, ID 83843 | Phone: (208) 885-6501