6 ms·

How to criticize computer scientists (2001)

116 points by fuzztester 3y ago

fullstick 3y ago
This article helped me understand the direction I want to go in life more than it should have.
odyssey7 3y ago
People who make these kinds of moves tend to stand out as noxious charlatans.
SuperNinKenDo 3y ago
Having spent time in academia, this gave me a good chuckle.
fuzztester 3y ago
From https://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/comer/ https://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/comer/
onionisafruit 3y ago
Weren’t these insults honed years ago at Xerox PARC?
- beretguy 3y ago
  No, they take their roots from the early years of IBM. Xerox never had anything to do with these. You are clearly misremembering something or you have no clue what you are talking about. Please take a seat and don’t speak until spoken to.
- defrost 3y ago
  I'm pretty sure PARC repackaged straightforward extensions of old results of Lobachevsky.
  - bitwize 3y ago
    Plagiarize, let no one else's work evade your eyes... only remember please to always call it "research".
    - gopher_space 3y ago
      > Plagiarize As an ex-TA in a science program, for the love of god just cite your source if you want to paste a wall-o-text. The differences between a lit review and research are in your goals, imho.
- IggleSniggle 3y ago
  Please. The idiots at Xerox PARC were great at regurgitating the successes of Bell Labs, but their convoluted solutions revealed just how little they actually understood the elegant theory behind their clumsy missteps.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
vsnf 3y ago
> Am I missing something here? A colleague of mine at a company I worked at, very intelligent, would often hurl this verbal weapon out at anyone delivering any kind of technical presentation. He was a very deep thinker and always had incisive insights. It was both a treat, and also terrifying to see him essentially interrogate the presenter. I only had to go before him one time, and it was both a test of one's knowledge of the material, and a measurement of one's emotional fortitude. As for the question, the answer was almost always "No, you are missing nothing. The rest of us simply do not exist on the same level as you do".
- sublinear 3y ago
  I'm hoping when you say "interrogate the presenter" it led to some constructive collaboration and not just meaningless nitpicks or dick waving. I'm also hoping the people you worked with could tell the difference. If not, I hope you ran away from such a place. It's rare for someone truly that much smarter than everyone else to stick around without management siloing them into more focused work. Also, I hope you meant presentations about theoretical or engineering work and not some vague business goal. If it's the latter most of us reading this would have similarly ripped it apart (constructively), hence the need for management especially at bigger orgs. The best way to handle vague business goals is to present it to upper management and let the implementation details be filled in by their team if they agree to proceed with work.
  - vsnf 3y ago
    He was very strict, valuing correctness and rigidity, but entirely well meaning. It was never about showcasing superiority, nor was it ever nitpicking. Being in the spotlight though, it could certainly feel like an attack. And in some cases it was, but it was an attack on the idea, not on the person. He was ruthless, but rarely ever wrong.
  - szszrk 3y ago
    Unfortunately one person is sufficient to spoil "a place". I am currently in this exact situation in my team. While I love everyone and really like what I do now, it became "the team vs that one guy". Which is ridiculous as he's supposed to be the pillar of the product. So here we are, the strongest part of the team became the biggest risk. Listening is a skill hard to master. Especially when you have no plans to try.
j7ake 3y ago
Am I missing something here? Aren’t these ideas hashed out already 20 years ago by Tichy?
- CryptoNoNo 3y ago
  Probably the year in the title 2001
Supermancho 3y ago
I know what camp I'm in. I have engaged in discussions around a difficult problem I solved, only to have one crowd come out and explain the algorithmic simplicity. "How would you do it?" "Oh I don't know about that." Always a pleasure from the armchair theorists.
dang 3y ago
Related: How to Criticize Computer Scientists (2001) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26609492 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26609492 - March 2021 (101 comments)
mo_42 3y ago
This article seems like a joke or a parody of something I lack context. > I certainly hope faculty will take this essay to heart and sharpen their insulting skills. In the future please make all your thrusts count.
- 48864w6ui 3y ago
  It explains how to compliment either type of computer scientist, under a sign change.

116 points by fuzztester 3y ago

fullstick 3y ago

This article helped me understand the direction I want to go in life more than it should have.

odyssey7 3y ago

People who make these kinds of moves tend to stand out as noxious charlatans.

SuperNinKenDo 3y ago

Having spent time in academia, this gave me a good chuckle.

fuzztester 3y ago

From https://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/comer/ https://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/comer/

onionisafruit 3y ago

Weren’t these insults honed years ago at Xerox PARC?

beretguy 3y ago
No, they take their roots from the early years of IBM. Xerox never had anything to do with these. You are clearly misremembering something or you have no clue what you are talking about. Please take a seat and don’t speak until spoken to.
defrost 3y ago
I'm pretty sure PARC repackaged straightforward extensions of old results of Lobachevsky.
- bitwize 3y ago
  Plagiarize, let no one else's work evade your eyes... only remember please to always call it "research".
  - gopher_space 3y ago
    > Plagiarize As an ex-TA in a science program, for the love of god just cite your source if you want to paste a wall-o-text. The differences between a lit review and research are in your goals, imho.
IggleSniggle 3y ago
Please. The idiots at Xerox PARC were great at regurgitating the successes of Bell Labs, but their convoluted solutions revealed just how little they actually understood the elegant theory behind their clumsy missteps.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

vsnf 3y ago

> Am I missing something here? A colleague of mine at a company I worked at, very intelligent, would often hurl this verbal weapon out at anyone delivering any kind of technical presentation. He was a very deep thinker and always had incisive insights. It was both a treat, and also terrifying to see him essentially interrogate the presenter. I only had to go before him one time, and it was both a test of one's knowledge of the material, and a measurement of one's emotional fortitude. As for the question, the answer was almost always "No, you are missing nothing. The rest of us simply do not exist on the same level as you do".

sublinear 3y ago
I'm hoping when you say "interrogate the presenter" it led to some constructive collaboration and not just meaningless nitpicks or dick waving. I'm also hoping the people you worked with could tell the difference. If not, I hope you ran away from such a place. It's rare for someone truly that much smarter than everyone else to stick around without management siloing them into more focused work. Also, I hope you meant presentations about theoretical or engineering work and not some vague business goal. If it's the latter most of us reading this would have similarly ripped it apart (constructively), hence the need for management especially at bigger orgs. The best way to handle vague business goals is to present it to upper management and let the implementation details be filled in by their team if they agree to proceed with work.
- vsnf 3y ago
  He was very strict, valuing correctness and rigidity, but entirely well meaning. It was never about showcasing superiority, nor was it ever nitpicking. Being in the spotlight though, it could certainly feel like an attack. And in some cases it was, but it was an attack on the idea, not on the person. He was ruthless, but rarely ever wrong.
- szszrk 3y ago
  Unfortunately one person is sufficient to spoil "a place". I am currently in this exact situation in my team. While I love everyone and really like what I do now, it became "the team vs that one guy". Which is ridiculous as he's supposed to be the pillar of the product. So here we are, the strongest part of the team became the biggest risk. Listening is a skill hard to master. Especially when you have no plans to try.

j7ake 3y ago

Am I missing something here? Aren’t these ideas hashed out already 20 years ago by Tichy?

CryptoNoNo 3y ago
Probably the year in the title 2001

Supermancho 3y ago

I know what camp I'm in. I have engaged in discussions around a difficult problem I solved, only to have one crowd come out and explain the algorithmic simplicity. "How would you do it?" "Oh I don't know about that." Always a pleasure from the armchair theorists.

dang 3y ago

Related: How to Criticize Computer Scientists (2001) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26609492 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26609492 - March 2021 (101 comments)

mo_42 3y ago

This article seems like a joke or a parody of something I lack context. > I certainly hope faculty will take this essay to heart and sharpen their insulting skills. In the future please make all your thrusts count.

48864w6ui 3y ago
It explains how to compliment either type of computer scientist, under a sign change.