Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: can.politics,net.women Subject: Re: opportunities, women Message-ID: <5865@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Sat, 10-Aug-85 18:47:43 EDT Article-I.D.: utzoo.5865 Posted: Sat Aug 10 18:47:43 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 10-Aug-85 18:47:43 EDT References: <5642@utzoo.UUCP> <896@mnetor.UUCP> <5788@utzoo.UUCP>, <16067@watmath.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 21 > ... I see this > defeatist attitude in software design all the time -- people don't stop > to figure out what they really need; they only think ahead to what they > can program in time... Nor, of course, do they stop to think that they might be better off not trying to solve the problem at all. When somebody is in a panic to solve a problem and asks you for advice, it is very hard to convince them that it's worth their while to study the situation a bit more first. They keep insisting that the problem is so urgent that they have no time for anything but a frontal assault, even in cases where a less direct approach would get better results and still meet their deadlines. Also, a point of clarification: I wasn't saying "this should not be done because it can't be done perfectly", I was saying "this should not be done because it can't be done satisfactorily". This is the difference between settling for reasonable although suboptimal results, and making an awful mess to no useful purpose. -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry