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Subject:Re: Procmail, and an article critique From:Michael Oboryshko <obie1121 -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 12 Dec 2001 12:07:53 -0800 (PST)
IMHO a lot of these papers are generated by academic types
desperately trying to hang onto their tenures, or their student
visas, or just trying to jam out their thesis. Or maybe it's a
corporate white paper aimed at executives of their Next Big
Customer. The writing isn't necessarily targeted at you. These
articles end up on the web kind of by default, because that
seems to be the thing to do.
For clearer writing, try a commercial site like Rational, or
some other site that has a profit motive to instruct you about
use cases. Some of the books they sponsor (buy them at your book
superstore) give a better presentation of use cases.
On the other hand, a lot of the basic technology we now take for
granted started with obscure and poorly written academic
research. So I try to maintain basic respect for academic
research even if it isn't immediately approachable.
Sometimes great ideas start with an approachable thesis. For
example, Hammer and Champy's original article describing
business reengineering ("Don't automate - obliterate!!). I
understood that immediately. But other times, great ideas are
buried in a big mess of spilled ink.
Regards,
Mike O.
Senior Ink-Spiller
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