Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!uh2
From: UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Scientific programs on Amiga
Message-ID: <90273.104606UH2@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: 30 Sep 90 14:46:06 GMT
References: <1990Sep29.021658.26896@evax.arl.utexas.edu> <6669@uwm.edu>
Organization: Penn State University
Lines: 18

Here's a different slant on the lack of Scientific Software on <insert machine
here>.  The Unix community, and to a lesser extent the general Comp Sci
community have a tradition developed over the past 20 years of sharing
locally developed software.  For example, if you create an experimental
text editor for a machine, you write a manual, bundle the whole thing up,
and try to export it.  I think this is because for many people in this
community developing software is the *end product* they want to be recognized
for.

On the other hand, this tradition is very rare in the sciences and engineering.
When some scientist develops a program that allows a user to view a data cloud
in N-dimensions, the *last* thing that occurs to him or her is to go on and
add a user interface and write a manual, and so on.

There are exceptions to this, of course, but as a general trend I doubt you
will see many good scientific applications floating around free because
scientists aren't motivated to produce them.
                                            lee