Re: ML spring 09 contest is bothersome and offensive
- From: "Bjorn Gustavsson" <bjonr@xxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 16:44:01 +0000 (UTC)
"Steven Lord" <slord@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message <grfsit$84f$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>...
[snip]
For what my answer might be worth...
I thought I remembered seeing you answer this question in another thread,
but now I can't find it so I'll ask it again: you used the phrase "goals
and expectations of the FEX" above. What are _your_ "goals and
expectations" of the File Exchange? Is it to be a repository of useful (for
some definition of useful) code for others to use and expand upon? Is it to
teach new users how to use MATLAB? Is it a place for people to post their
code in hopes that others will improve that code? Is it somewhere for
people to post their code to have it reviewed and judged like some sort of
dog show? Or is it something else?
1, My expectations of the file exchange: A repository of useful code, for others to use and improve upon or provide "better than" submissions. Here there is a decided evolutionary ladder, in that I expect newer submissions solving the same task as already existing submissions to be better in some way (speed, range, adjustability or some other feature). When I see another RBF tool, or the next Savitzky-Golay filter I'd want to expect it to be better than the existing. If it would not be the authors would have spent their time better solving another problem, or improved their solution to become better. If TMW provides Delaunay triangulations, J. d'Errico provides gridfit, and others RBF-tools and other fitting routines, I'd use them, maybe improve or tailor, but I wouldn't waste my time writing something that isn't as good.
2, My goals, well since I'm decidedly lazy, my goal is to use tools downloaded from the FEX, since that will save me days and weeks of work, that I now and hopefully in the future spend procrastinating or solving other problems in my field, thereby reaching further and faster than if I had to do it all by hand. In the odd cases where I find that I've solved some problems someone else might find useful I'll try to contribute with those, so that others might benefit in the same way as I do.
3, FEX is not to teach people to program in matlab, it is for others to learn from. There is a significant difference.
4, Improve code - if someone want to improve the code, fine. But there is nothing saying that the improved code will necessary reappear on the FEX. If it does, the code have improved without "my" work, and I'll have a better tool for no extra effort.
5, Dog show, there is no way to stop people from being vain and pathetic. Maybe one could or even should try not to encourage that streak in those inclined.
The reason I get annoyed when I see a "yet another" submission is that the time spent on solving that problem does not contribute to much general benefit to the community. That way the time spent is wasted. It would have been so much preferable to get a submission solving another problem thereby widening the capability and power of the tools available. The submitee cannot argue that a poor "yet another" contribution lead to any more important learning than a good contribution solving an unsolved problem. It is this wastefulness of the poor "yet another" submissions that makes people irritated - the time could have been spent producing something useful for everyone when it was spent on programming anyway.
My 5p
/Bjeorn
.
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