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From: eric@wdl47.wdl.fac.com (Eric Kuhnen)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Roots of polynomials
Message-ID: <1990Dec7.162716.14167@wdl1.wdl.loral.com>
Date: 7 Dec 90 16:27:16 GMT
References: <2173@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> <1990Dec5.175558.29859@dg-rtp.dg.com> <4529@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
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subbarao@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Kartik Subbarao) writes:
>Yes this is true. But why are you assuming that he wants to do his homework
>on USENET? Don't you think its a bit prejudging to assume right off the
>bat about a person's intentions? Especially the part about "slower"
>students and the like. That's getting downright condescending. I really 
>don't think that kind of tone belongs in an educational newsgroup (your own 
>words). What if he is doing some independent work on the stuff and wants to
>find out whether there already exists code to do what he wants? There
>certainly is no point to re-inventing the wheel. I certainly am not going
>to take too much time writing someting that I need done quickly and is
>already around.

A valid point.  I, too, felt as though the response was a bit condenscending.

>IMNSFHO comp.lang.c is an informational newsgroup about C, and people are
>here for free exchange of information regarding the language. There is no
>need for censors like you to say "oh that question shouldn't be answered", 
>because it comes from an undergraduate student. This might make you feel 
>sad, but believe it or not, I have learned stuff on this newsgroup that 
>has helped me with (gosh) official computer programming assignments that 
>I hand in. I think that's the purpose of this, not to decide who to dole
>out information to. 
>If a person wants to do his homework on the net, there really is no way to
>stop him. It's between him and his own conscience as to what he wants, and
>others can't make that decision for him. If you don't want to answer him,
>then don't. But there is no need to collectively put down questions of this
>sort under a WARNING: flag.
>Anyway -- what does everyone else think about this? I've seen both sorts of
>attitudes on the subject. What do you guys think comp.lang.c should do?

In defense of the first reply, I might say that the original poster did 
ask for an answer to what appeared to be a homework assignment.  I think,
however, that any "I had to do it so you have to do it, too" attitude that
is handled in the rather cavalier manner of the first reply is unjustified.
I think a more gentle way of approaching this situation would have been to 
reply, "I feel uncomfortable giving away homework assignments.  Is your
request for source code driven because you have a homework assignment to
finish?  If so, I would rather not give away the answer.  However, here is
a general algorithm that I would be happy to answer questions on.  Fair
enough?"

On a related note, I tend to believe that information should be exchanged 
freely.  I don't think that the state of the art in computer programming
would be higher if without the code and idea borrowing that happens in labs,
hacker closets, and on this net.  In fact, I would love to teach a course
that builds some complex program almost entirely upon borrowed code.
 
"Q"






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