Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site sunybcs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!sunybcs!colonel From: colonel@sunybcs.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) Newsgroups: net.cse Subject: Re: theory and practice in C.S. Message-ID: <2452@sunybcs.UUCP> Date: Mon, 4-Nov-85 20:06:29 EST Article-I.D.: sunybcs.2452 Posted: Mon Nov 4 20:06:29 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 5-Nov-85 23:36:31 EST References: <827@dataio.Dataio.UUCP> <2392@sunybcs.UUCP> <260@yetti.UUCP> Organization: Save the Dodoes Foundation Lines: 35 ["You saved my life, Captain Buffalo! Have a CIGAR!"] > With a few notable > exceptions (such as hash-coding), it seems that almost all the "good > stuff" in computing evolved in theoretically-oriented research environments > (often academic), i.e. out of the efforts of people involved in doing > computer science. > Ada! (and what ever happened to Jovial by the way?). > and intellectual insights of DoD's great achievments in this area: Cobol > exactly they failed, Colonel, [END OF ARTICLE] Looks like this was written on a sinking ship.... Well, yes, Cobol! A perfect illustration. When a new idea works well in practice, like WHILE-loops, theory pronounces it a good idea, and explains why. If theory cannot explain why, as with Cobol, it is reduced to sneering at it (I name no names (but his initials are E.D.!)). And if a theoretical idea works badly in practice, no explanation is wanted; nobody wants to hear about it any more. I'm not talking now about the theoretical research that compares disk-scheduling algorithms or ease of using text editors; this is obviously valuable. It's the theory of programming I mean. And just because an idea comes out of a "theoretically-oriented research environment" (university) doesn't make it a product of theory. The people who do computer science are practitioners--they have to be. A researcher who strives to be purely theoretical is often just an obstacle to progress. At the least, he's trying to maintain the old distinction between theory and practice in a field where they're inseparable. -- Col. G. L. Sicherman UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!colonel CS: colonel@buffalo-cs BI: csdsicher@sunyabva