I don't think I ever said, "why cant we just...". Did I? I had forgotten about "noodles". I can't even remember how it worked. Or where it is.
N -----Original Message----- From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Steve Smith Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2013 12:23 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: [FRIAM] Preserving email correspondence All - In defense of Nick, I appreciate how he could come to "why cant we just...". As a systems developer with a little experience around natural language processing, I agree with Doug and Owen that it is a naive question with only extremely complex answers. I understand why Nick asks these questions and value the naivete that he is willing to expose to us. I also appreciate Marcus' point. I've been on both ends of the system development question around documentation and helping others understand what I've done or trying to understand what others have done. I'm often eclipsed by highly efficient and capable (usually) young programmers who are (naturally) impatient with the rest of us for asking them to explain what the've done. I'm also often frustrated by others who want me to walk them through every detail of something that is "obvious" to me, despite realizing it wasn't obvious to me until I'd gone through the steps of creating it. Their ignorance is often no greater than mine was when I started, and asking them to essentially re-develop the same algorithm or code is possibly the only way they will come to my level of understanding. I can guide them through the shortcuts, but ultimately there is hard work for them to do. As I remember it, Nick tried to coin a Wiki based conversational forum I think he called "Noodles" a number of years ago. I don't remember the details, I do remember being compelled by his conception of it. I do remember trying to participate with him (and maybe a couple of others?) in using it, following the conventions. I guess I could probably dig it out of the archives, thanks to Owen, et al. who have made sure we even *have* archives. Lacking brevity as usual, - Steve ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
