Re: signature like constructions

[aek@vib.usr.pu.ru (Alexander Kopilovitch)]

Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:

>>>I give you a funny example. One student was unable to tell me how to
>>>calculate a distance between two points in cartesian co-ordinates! He
>>>naturally knew nothing about Euclidean distance, space etc. Now the
>>>most amazing thing. This student had successfuly modified a
>>>3D-simulation program in OpenGL! (:-))
>>
>>No problem with that. Well, for a native English speaker the spoken language
>>appears before the written language, but for foreigner the sequence is usually
>>reverse. (For example. because of this I can communicate in written English
>>-- well, with many errors, but still usually succesfully -- but I can't say so
>>about my spoken English. So, an "phonetically illiterate" foreigner differs
>>radically from an illiterate native speaker -:) .
>>
>>So for that you student. While for us the Euclidean distance appeared before
>>3D-simulation and OpenGL, for that student the sequence is opposite -- surely,
>>if he will continue his works with 3D-simulation and OpenGL, he inevitably
>>will learn about Euclidean distance, sooner or later.
>
>I think that the analogy is invalid. OpenGL cannot supersede analytic
>geometry.

If you think that written English supersedes spoken English (and even for
those who cannot reproduce proper sounds from written words) then you are
wrong, sad to say. It may be true or almost true for very poor English, but
no more than that.

> I would say that one can play an electic piano, knowing
>nothing about electricity.

If API is comprehensive and needed library functions are supplied as smoothly
as electricity then why not? Well, I'll try to explain why that is not enough:
You may be unaware about electricity and still play an electric piano succesfully,
but for that you must be aware of music. That is, you must somehow understand
your problem domain - music. You must know something about tunes, tones,
durations etc. So for OpenGL applications: your student will recognize that
he must learn Euclidean distance when he discovers that without it he can't
understand enough 3D-something problems he is facing. Very annoying situation,
indeed: you are ready to solve the problem, but you can't get what is needed;
you customer is surely ignorant and idiot for he can't give you problem statement
in proper (suitable for OpenGL) terms, and he is talking all the time about
those damned distances... but money is on his side, and you are facing the
bitter choice: either learn distances or lose opportunity of earning money.


>>> Let me foretell that new generations of
>>>programmes will even know nothing about arithmetics! (:-))
>>
>>Well, there was a short novel about exactly that, by famous science fiction
>>writer Isaac Asimov. In fact, that was probably the first Asimov's novel
>>published in Soviet Union (in early sixties, I think), and it immediately made
>>Asimov well-known in Soviet scientific circles (at least among physicists).
>>In that novel, in far future the Earth is involved in endless war with another
>>civilization; on both sides humans forgot arithmetics long ago, and the war is
>>totally computerized; the problem is that the computers on both sides appeared
>>"synchronized" -- they develop and upgrade themselves at the same speed, so
>>nobody can win, and the war can't go to the end. The hero of the novel re-invents
>>arithmetics from scratch, and the President becomes happy with new perspective
>>-- to escape the deadlock and defeat the enemy using this non-conventional way.
>
>Happy end. (:-))

Not so happy - at the end of the novel the inventor committed suicide when
became aware of that his invention will be used exclusively for military
purposes.

> But the true story is that re-invented arithmetics
>did not help them. See Matrix movie paraphrasing the anecdote about
>Sergeant and banana - all problems can solved merely by jumping higher
>than others could. (:-))

I think that public referencing of the Matrix movie is inappropriate in any
context which isn't related to mass entertainment. Let's differentiate good
science fiction from something like mental beer. (Why such a strong reaction?
Just because you implied that reader should have seen that movie, so you
became an agent of it.)

>>>>That's simple. Just the same reasons as for not to build a 100km-high tower.
>>>
>>>That tower is already built. Its name is internet! (:-))
>>
>>Why do you think so?
>
>It is an example of how a very bad technology could serve a great
>purpose.

Quite strange claim (about "very bad technology"), I think. Certainly, one can
list many drawbacks of current Internet technologies (thus don't do that here.
please -:) , but knowing that the current Internet as a whole could not be
*designed* anyway, I can't understand any blames of this kind.

Besides that, what a strange criteria for "good" and "bad" you must use for
that your claim. The Internet succeeded in many aspects, it was adopted worldwide,
and that its spreading takes effectively less than two decades. Well, I would
understand if someone says that automobile technology is very bad because it
claims hundreds of thousands lives worldwide every year... or that smoking
technology is bad - for similar reasons; but I don't see any great harm directly
caused by that Internet technology.



Alexander Kopilovitch                      aek@vib.usr.pu.ru
Saint-Petersburg
Russia