🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov20.054603.28338@technix.mn.org> bret@technix.mn.org (Bret Indrelee) writes:
>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.

			......................

>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.

The two aspects I have been arguing are the notation to communicate,
and the speed of the object code.  This is also what those using the
computers in number theory are arguing.  The physicist does not attempt
to use notation known to confuse the chemist or electrical engineer.
The numerical analyst does not tell the engineer to state it in a new
"clean" format or go without the services.  When I consult on statistical
problems, the problem is not statistical notation, but that the client
does not know that more SUBJECT MATTER assumptions are needed to solve
the problem, and that the numerical answers depend on those assumptions
in a non-trivial manner.  Also, often there is a partial analysis, with
further work needed on steps, even on the decision of what data to collect.

It is precisely this approach which the programming people seem unwilling
to take.  I do not attempt to force the solution method into a small
algorithmic framework, and often invent algorithms for the particular
problem.
-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@snap.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
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