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From: laura@hoptoad.uucp (Laura Creighton)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Re: New Discussion (first meetings)
Message-ID: <446@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: Tue, 28-Jan-86 01:01:48 EST
Article-I.D.: hoptoad.446
Posted: Tue Jan 28 01:01:48 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 30-Jan-86 01:13:28 EST
References: <705@leadsv.UUCP> <130400004@hpfcls.UUCP> <723@leadsv.UUCP> <1572@lumiere.UUCP> <430@ur-helheim.UUCP> <635@steinmetz.UUCP>
Reply-To: laura@hoptoad.UUCP (Laura Creighton)
Organization: Nebula Consultants in San Francisco
Lines: 29

Gang, computer science grew out of engineering and mathematics.  To this
day there are computer programmers who are mathematicians at heart, and
computer programmers who are engineers at heart.  And I've got news
for you -- the two sorts do not think the same way.  You know the adadge
about if all you have is a hammer, all the world looks like a nail?  It
applies here.  For a great many programming problems there is often a
``mathematical solution'' and an ``engineering solution''.  Which one you
hit upon is dependent upon how your mind works.

I've got an engineering type mind.   It is too bad that none of my wonderful
educators noticed this, because then I wouldn't have gone to university to
be a theoretical physicist.  Theoretical physics is great, but you need a
mathematician type mind, and I don't have one. But I had to become a tenth
rate physicist to find this one out... Sigh.  

If you are a programmer who is practicing engineering while programming,
by all means call yourself an engineer. And if you don't know what I am
talking about, then *don't* call yourself an engineer, since that is
probably not what you are doing.  Of course, calling yourself a mathematician
is probably out as well.




-- 
Laura Creighton		
sun!hoptoad!laura		(note new address!  l5 will still
ihnp4!hoptoad!laura		 work for a while....)
hoptoad!laura@lll-crg.arpa