Re: new coiling program

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Paul Nicholson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <paul-at-abelian.demon.co.uk>

Colin Heath wrote:

 > why is it every one who does something good on here or a
 > new idea gets shot down in flames

Because this is a critical forum: criticism is essential for
progress, and is desired by those who wish to do research and
contribute reliable new stuff to the subject.  That's the lists'
number one asset.

If you want credulous acceptance of anything that's posted,
there are plenty of crank lists.

In this case, the program offered to the list is 10 or 20 times
larger than it need be, and that needs to be pointed out.  Would
you prefer us to pretend otherwise, just to be 'nice' to the
author?

You must recognise that valid, incisive criticism, represents the
highest compliment that you can pay to someone.  It means you've
taken the trouble to look at what they're doing, and studied it
sufficient to criticise it.

Dan McCauley wrote:

 > Welcome to the real world of engineering.

Dan understands.   I hand my colleagues at work a program that
I think is sound, and they destroy it.  Hmm, I fix it, the program
gets better. I learn.   Critical assessment of work is the basic
process in science and engineering that leads to reliable knowledge.

As they say, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

On the subject of coiling programs, etc:   Can I ask that authors
consider posting the source code as well as the binaries?  Few
seem to do so at the moment.  Having the source code means that we
can port a useful program to proper computers (ie not windoze),
we can inspect the code, see how it works, and criticise it more
effectively.  This is especially true of coil design programs.
Without source code, the program is a mysterious black box and we
can only guess what theoretical components went into it. Exposing
your source code is one of the best ways to improve your programs,
and it allows others to learn from what you've done.
--
Paul Nicholson
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