From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Rustom Mody Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Emacs history, and "Is Emacs difficult to learn?" Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 21:47:17 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <39e6407d-c4fd-4dc1-b47f-a1ba4119c7cb@googlegroups.com> References: <87y58pplcp.fsf@VLAN-3434.student.uu.se> <87fvuwgsv0.fsf@VLAN-3434.student.uu.se> <075751cf-97a3-4d01-8fb1-4ffbc0180f3f@googlegroups.com> <878v0oxfdw.fsf@VLAN-3434.student.uu.se> <87a9l4rs76.fsf@VLAN-3434.student.uu.se> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1375246217 8261 80.91.229.3 (31 Jul 2013 04:50:17 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 04:50:17 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Jul 31 06:50:17 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1V4OMb-0008U0-5A for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 31 Jul 2013 06:50:17 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:57667 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1V4OMa-0005wi-OG for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 31 Jul 2013 00:50:16 -0400 X-Received: by 10.224.54.73 with SMTP id p9mr85827416qag.1.1375246038280; Tue, 30 Jul 2013 21:47:18 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 10.50.106.50 with SMTP id gr18mr303963igb.1.1375246038246; Tue, 30 Jul 2013 21:47:18 -0700 (PDT) Original-Path: usenet.stanford.edu!f7no242473qan.0!news-out.google.com!ce7ni126qab.0!nntp.google.com!fx3no251845qab.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help In-Reply-To: Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=59.95.32.188; posting-account=mBpa7woAAAAGLEWUUKpmbxm-Quu5D8ui Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 59.95.32.188 User-Agent: G2/1.0 Injection-Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 04:47:18 +0000 Original-Xref: usenet.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:200313 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:92580 Archived-At: On Wednesday, July 31, 2013 2:49:15 AM UTC+5:30, Barry Margolin wrote: > I think that almost anything that tells the computer to perform a set of= =20 > operations can be considered programming. Some programs are more complex= =20 > than others, and some programmers have more skills and know how to make= =20 > the computer jump through more hoops. I think that computer science is impoverished by the penchants of academic = computer scientists. Analogy: Say I am a physicist and since E =3D mc2 therefore mass is just en= ergy and therefore we dont need to study mechanics/statics etc. Just heat = light electricity etc is enough. I dare say this would create a skewed vie= w of physics and create impoverished physicists out of students who came un= der such a regimen. In the same vein CSists emphasise algorithms too much over data. >From the typical academic viewpoint: Elisp is just a lisp with some additio= nal features suitable for editor-writing. >From a data viewpoint: Elisp is more different from vanilla lisp than lisp = is from C, given its primitive data-structures like buffer, window etc. Anyone who knows the goings-on of the typical academic setup will know that= the first view has more traction there than the second. And thence follows the reduced respectability of VB, Cobol, sql, spreadshee= ts as compared to 'serious' languages like C/C++. Some more of the foibles of us academics in my blog-post and the followup: http://blog.languager.org/2011/02/cs-education-is-fat-and-weak-1.html > It's like many other skills. If someone only knows how to play=20 > "Chopsticks" on the piano, they're still making music. They're not going= =20 > to get hired as a professional musician, though. Heh! In that category myself. My friends and colleagues think I am a musici= an. But for me it remains ever a black art how real musicians can take a random= tune and add a left-hand in real-time.