[tech-spec] Re: Nested Loops
- From: BBands <BBands@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: 't-s' <tech-spec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 08:13:51 -0800
Imagine my chagrin. I answer a seemingly innocent question on how to
implement nested loops in R and get lectured on what should and shouldn't be
done in R and how to do it properly with the entire process culminating in
the post below.
Message received.
Back to the markets,
--jab
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tech-spec-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:tech-spec-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Tom McCubbin
> Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 5:42 PM
> To: tech-spec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [tech-spec] Re: Nested Loops
>
>
> After rigorous battle w/ my oldest son at bedtime, I was
> ready to return
> to do battle w/ the infamous BBands...then, like a wise father, S.
> Wisdom stepped in to smooth
> the waters. I felt reduced to a sniveling school yard child, having
> realized the point moot, and
> my religious zealousness silly.
>
> But how can i lay, after a 'paul graham' shellacking?
>
> First, I am not a hacker. I am a professional developer.
> The libraries
> and tools i have
> lovingly, and sometimes in obscure low level, ugly, but well
> commented
> assembly, C, and C++,
> written underly some of the largest historic time-series data
> warehouses, perf attr, risk mgmt, and
> modelling / back-testing systems in place today.
>
> Keane has pitted me against several of the established
> leaders in both
> the historic data and
> relational model space, and each time i have come out on top. Top in
> terse memory requirements,
> top for scalability, top for runtime performance by orders of
> magnitudes. And of course tops
> for hardware requirements. If you want i can send pretty
> reports saying so.
>
> DMG, JPMorgan, BoA, Goldman, American Century, Fidelity,
> Putnam, State
> Street, Allianz, Dresdner,
> the ECB, the Beaureau of Economic Analysis, Haver Analytic,
> the Bank of
> International Settlements
> and many others all rely on my unreadable code. And soon the
> FED will
> be migrating their
> historic dw's onto my platform as well. Why? Because, i have a clue
> what i am doing in the
> little space which is my world.
>
> I don't need Graham's rhetoric. I can find plenty of
> opinions on both
> sides of the fence.
>
> So please don't lecture me on being a programmer. I'd rather
> learn from
> your experience and
> wisdom in the financial world. Everyone knows who you are.
> I am no one.
> Can you please leave me the paltry dignity of knowing my own
> profession?
> Or must you claim that as well?
>
> R is a language i have only recently begun to use. I do however have
> extensive experience with
> similar proprietary languages, and understand the concept space /
> knowledge domain just fine.
> In fact, i have spoken and taught on several occasions at
> central banks,
> i-banks, and the like.
>
> I defer to Dirk for my R lessons. Clearly, he is the resident guru.
>
> I defer to you for the applied finance CS lessons. And steve. And
> others who i hope will excuse
> my not mentioning each of their names.
>
> So please, lets stop the insanity, and return to you guys teaching me
> something...for my own
> selfish needs!
>
> thank you, my apologies if i have exceeded the flame limit, all due
> respect, and it hurts
> when you step on my toes,
>
> -tom
>
> ps - how could perl possibly still exist?
>
> BBands wrote:
>
> >>Code is not meant to be understood...that's what comments are for.
> >>( you do comment your code, right ? )
> >>
> >>
> >
> >I'll let Paul Graham reply for me:
> >
> >"Source code, too, should explain itself. If I could get
> people to remember
> >just one quote about programming, it would be the one at the
> beginning of
> >Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs.
> >
> >Programs should be written for people to read, and only
> incidentally for
> >machines to execute.
> >
> >You need to have empathy not just for your users, but for
> your readers. It's
> >in your interest, because you'll be one of them. Many a
> hacker has written a
> >program only to find on returning to it six months later
> that he has no idea
> >how it works. I know several people who've sworn off Perl after such
> >experiences."
> >
> >http://www.paulgraham.com
> >http://www.paulgraham.com/paulgraham/hp.html
> >
> > --jab
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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