From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Lew Pitcher Newsgroups: comp.programming,comp.lang.clipper,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.ada,comp.databases.xbase.fox,alt.conspiracy Subject: Re: [BBC] Programmers who use spaces 'paid more' Followup-To: comp.programming Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2017 20:22:51 -0400 Organization: The Pitcher Digital Freehold Message-ID: References: <_9B1B.213777$gM7.90022@fx44.am4> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit Injection-Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2017 00:19:09 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="02f285812ae22f98e03b1975c0602ba3"; logging-data="7726"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18ipsxIYYpW0mQEFAE4Biqj3XiO7qbu6mY=" User-Agent: KNode/0.99.01 Cancel-Lock: sha1:8Ogma87JBR9bPFjTjuTmFfurDH0= Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.programming:20006 comp.lang.clipper:3013 comp.lang.c:191378 comp.lang.ada:46997 comp.databases.xbase.fox:161 alt.conspiracy:352383 Date: 2017-06-18T20:22:51-04:00 List-Id: J. Clarke wrote: > In article <_9B1B.213777$gM7.90022@fx44.am4>, per.s.sandberg@bahnhof.se > says... >> >> This makes perfect sense ! >> >> But this is the same class of statistics that tells you that milk is >> causing accidents since the number of children in injured in car >> accidents in an area is direct proportional to the consumption of milk >> in the same area. > > OK, so tell us what is the third factor that results in programmers who > use spaces being paid more than programmers who use tabs. What third factor? Remember, correlation is not causation. You'd be surprised at how often people forget that. You can often take two random, real-world variables and find some sort of correlation between them; that doesn't mean that there is any causative factor between those variables values - random is random. As for "programmers who use spaces get paid more than programmers who use tabs", here are a few more for you - there is a direct, linear correlation between {US spending on science, space and technology} and {suicides by hanging, strangulation and suffocation}. - there is a direct, linear correlation between {the number of people who drowned by falling into a pool} and {films that Nicholas Cage appeared in} http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations -- Lew Pitcher "In Skills, We Trust" PGP public key available upon request