Re: Backtracking through the source

At 10:07 AM 11/30/00 -0500, Andy Dougherty wrote:
>On Thu, 30 Nov 2000, Bryan C. Warnock wrote:
>
> > You don't want the compiler design to be a 'hands-on experiment' for us
> > inexperienced folk?  That's not elitist, that's pragmatic.
> >
> > You don't want this to be a learning experience - (corrections, 
> observations,
> > answers) - to the same?  *That's* elitist.
>
>Fair enough to a point, but please let's not overburden the experienced
>folk by also _expecting_ them to always supply "corrections, observations,
>and answers".

To carry Simon's analogy forward, it's the same as walking over to the 
construction site and asking the construction crew lots of questions. You 
can hope they'll answer and expect they'll be reasonably polite to a point, 
but they're not always going to answer, aren't obligated to educate you on 
how to design or build buildings, and some of them may tell you to go away 
if you pester them. That analogy, however, isn't applicable here. We're not 
building anything yet.

What we're doing is *designing* the building. A more appropriate analogy is 
one where you walk into the architect's conference room and start 
commenting on and fiddling with the design of the building. While the sign 
says "Open Meeting", the expectation is that you're competent in the areas 
you'll choose to participate in.

					Dan

--------------------------------------"it's like this"-------------------
Dan Sugalski                          even samurai
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                                      teddy bears get drunk