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Why scientific programming does not compute

nature.com

161–170 of 170 posts

Re: Why scientific programming does not compute

#161
post #91
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dropbox has invalidated this pitch.

Not completely. Git is better at merging.

Git's also a bit hard for them to handle by themselves with how rarely they need to use it (I'm a huge git proponent, but also a realist).

Re: Why scientific programming does not compute

#162
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are interested in programming and arts, why not have a look at computer games? (Or even modern board games, where the algorithms are run by the players themselves.)

I grew up interested in computer games, and I was lucky enough to TA a game design class at my university. I love the ability to create interactions, but my interest has recently turned to designing interactions into things that aren't normally interactive. I had a lot of fun making an interactive data visualization at a recent hackathon, and I'm hoping to do more things like that. I personally think games and scienc…

Sounds like you may want to check out robotics.

Georgia Tech has a fun Mobile Robotics Lab, and there are several other places that you could study further. (You'll gain training in the actuators, sensors, etc you'd need for your artistic work).

Re: Why scientific programming does not compute

#163

[New account for anonymity] An often neglected force in this argument is that many practitioners of "scientific coding" take rapid iteration to its illogical and deleterious conclusion. I'm often lightly chastised for my tendencies to write maintainable, documented, reusable code. People laugh guiltily when I ask them to try checking out an svn repository, let alone cloning a git repo. It's certain that in my field (…

What I am hearing from you, is that we need to lobby the US government into open code requirement for grant work done under their purvey.

Also some sort of git front end that unwilling people could use would make things better?

Re: Why scientific programming does not compute

#165
post #129

An interesting citation http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=188228 : > This paper describes some results of what, to the authors' knowledge, is the largest N-version programming experiment ever performed. The object of this ongoing four-year study is to attempt to determine just how consistent the results of scientific computation really are, and, from this, to estimate accuracy. The experiment is being carried out…

There's a later paper available for reading: http://www.leshatton.org/Documents/Texp_ICSE297.pdf

Re: Why scientific programming does not compute

#166
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience is while they may be respected, they aren't paid . And I'm not a charity.

Nobody is paid for doing research. The salary of a professor is about 1/3-1/5 of what the same person may get in industry. People who do research don't do it for the money.

Everyone thinks they're underpaid, but the truth is, academic skills do not transfer well to industry. I refer you to the discussion in Ghostbusters:

"Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities, we didn't have to produce anything! You've never been out of college! You don't know what it's like out there! I've worked in the private sector. They expect results."

Re: Why scientific programming does not compute

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up interested in computer games, and I was lucky enough to TA a game design class at my university. I love the ability to create interactions, but my interest has recently turned to designing interactions into things that aren't normally interactive. I had a lot of fun making an interactive data visualization at a recent hackathon, and I'm hoping to do more things like that. I personally think games and scienc…

Sounds like you may want to check out robotics. Georgia Tech has a fun Mobile Robotics Lab, and there are several other places that you could study further. (You'll gain training in the actuators, sensors, etc you'd need for your artistic work).

I'll put in another plug for Robotics and Intelligent Machines @ Georgia Tech; that's where I am now.

http://robotics.gatech.edu/

Re: Why scientific programming does not compute

#168
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because most scientists write code in Fortran '77, which is interpreted, meaning that "code" == "program".

I would have sworn that Fortran was compiled.

Whoops, you're right, I'm talking utter crap!

Re: Why scientific programming does not compute

#169
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely not. Queen's English here, and "Maths" is a simple concatenation of Mathematics, meaning "Codes" would make no lexical sense. Therefore, we say "Code", just like you.

>concatenation Contraction.

Quite right.

Re: Why scientific programming does not compute

#170
post #6

I want to write a "software style guide" for journalists and their editors. Software and Code are both mass nouns in technical language. "Code" can be in programs (aka, things that run), libraries (things that other programmers can use to make programs), or in samples to show people how to do things in their programs or libraries. Some people call short programs scripts. When you feel you should pluralize "software",…

I believe "code" meaning "program" is a relic of early military software development, and as such is probably older than your terminology.

However, science should modernize to modern computing's terms, so as to allow for easier cross training in modern techniques to make their uses of programming go smoother.
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