🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <BxxGKp.81A@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>The statistician will need numerical analysis jargon.  That computer 
>jargon diverges from this is essentially a move on the part of the
>computer language designers to distance themselves from mathematics.
>They have been too succesful in this.

You could say the same thing in terms of Electrical Engineering or
Chemistry moving too far from Physics.


All of these fields use quantum mechanics.

Each has their own focus.

In physics, the objective is to create the most accurate model possible.

In chemistry, the strength of bonding and energy exchange is usually
the most important consideration.

In Electrical Engineering (IC design) the energy gap (how easy to push
an electron accross a gap) is more important.

The models used by each consider different details.  The EE would want
the simplest model, so that they can try different arrangements and
create the basic building blocks that make up NAND gates and memory
cells.  If electron spin isn't important in the interaction, then the
EE would not want it in the model.  They also don't tend to think in
terms of which 'shell' the electrons are at, but rather what the
energy gap between the shells are.


The focus of a computer programmers work is much different than
a mathematicians.  The mathematician can prove that an algorithem
works, and be done with it.  A computer programmer that doesn't
worry about how many steps the algorithem takes (how long to
complete a run) is going to get into lots of trouble.

Different focus.  Different jargon.  Each can ignore different details.

Since people get confused when they have to process too much information
simultaneously, this focussing on only parts of the whole problem is
not only good but necessary.


-Bret
-- 
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Bret Indrelee               |         Insanity is all in the mind.
email: bret@technix.mn.org  |