[Haskell-cafe] To [] Or Not To []

Joachim Durchholz jo at durchholz.org
Fri Mar 10 07:34:53 UTC 2017


Am 10.03.2017 um 08:19 schrieb Geraldus:
> "It is more important to have the right problem
> done the wrong way, than to have the wrong problem done
> the right way."
>
> Sounds like a nonsense.  Does  "problem done the wrong way" implies the
> problem indeed isn't solved at all, doesn't it?

No, in that context, "done the wrong way" meant that Spaghetti code and 
similar abominations are okay if the program delivers.

For which even today a case can be made if the program is just a 
one-shot explorative thing where nobody will ever spend a second look at 
the results or at the program code.
Scientific computing often means fiddling with code to fiddle with data; 
you do dozens of throwaway programs, and if something of interest comes 
out, you can still write a reviewable one. Or not release the code at 
all because anybody in the community will write his/her own data 
validation code anyway.


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