Xref: utzoo comp.graphics:1826 comp.sys.ibm.pc:12518
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!watcgl!ksbooth
From: ksbooth@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Kelly Booth)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: COMPLICATED PROBLEM; ONLY INTELLIGENT PEOPLE SHOULD READ
Keywords: READ THIS ONLY IF YOUR IQ >>125
Message-ID: <3400@watcgl.waterloo.edu>
Date: 27 Feb 88 16:25:43 GMT
References: <971@ut-emx.UUCP> <210@geza.SW.MCC.COM>
Reply-To: ksbooth@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Kelly Booth)
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 20

In article <210@geza.SW.MCC.COM> begeman@geza.SW.MCC.COM (Michael Begeman) writes:
>
>P.S.  Sorry, but I can't claim the IQ >> 125 prize.  I'd only have
>      earned that had I worked on the problem for weeks before discovering
>      that it was already solved!

On the contrary!  You WIN the prize.  Working on a problem for weeks
before discovering that it has already been solved is far too often
what happens in computer science.  Most disciplines take pride in
knowing the literature and making every effort to build on past
successes.

As Richard Hamming (I believe) once said in this context, "Newton may
have stood on the shoulders of giants, but in computer science we stand
on each other's toes."  (Pardon the loose quote here, I don't have the
original, but I think it is from his Turing Award address, which
appeared in CACM and in the ACM Press book containing the first 20
Turing Award talks -- well worth reading if only to see how little has
been accomplished in computer science in terms of solving basic
problems posed by the award winners.)