[tech-spec] Re: Nested Loops
- From: "Daniel Flam" <daniel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tech-spec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 00:21:52 -0500
I am a pro programmer and have been a senior developer at major development
companies and can say without doubt the one thing that can cause a team of
genius programmers to go astray is fights about style and what is the right
way. The point of the tower of babel was not faulty planning... it was
miscommunication so if we want to reach to the stars, let us refrain from
commenting on peoples personal techniques.
The beuty of comupting is each person can do it his way! Right, code
readability vs performance... we had a team fight for month over if to use
upper or lower case for the first letter of the parameters of functions. I
would like see ideas and implementations and we wont get any if we are
embarrased by "semantics"
So to put my balls on the table, i will say that i still prefer the MySQL
Backend for my data, use R for analysis and use other tools for trading.
I am preparing some of my code to the list so it will be posted within a few
days.
Danny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom McCubbin" <tmccubbin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tech-spec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 1:02 PM
Subject: [tech-spec] Re: Nested Loops
> my sincere apologies.
>
> -tom
>
> BBands wrote:
>
> >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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