In article <D9pECH.IL4@ssbunews.ih.att.com>, warren@ixwarren.att.com says...
>
>The June issue of Communications of the ACM has an interesting
>article titled Cognitive Bias in Software Engineering.  The thesis
>of the article is the cognitive functions of human beings bias the
>way in which they perceive information (e.g. tending to recognize
>only those data that confirm a belief), and that these biases
>often cause unconfirmed theories to become widely accepted best
>practice, particularly in fields like software engineering where
>much of what is done is not directly provable from physical or
>mathematical principles.  The article gives some examples of both
>the mechanisms that lead to this and the way they operate in our
>field, as well as some guidelines on how to recognize and avoid the
>resulting bias.  It's interesting reading for anyone who has ever
>been engaged in the seemingly endless wars we fight over languages
>and design methods, and wondered why the others in the debate seem
>so unmoved by the obvious rightness of his or her own position.
>(Maybe I just liked it because belief that difference in the way
>individuals think about software dictate strong differences in
>which languages and methods best suit them is one of my favorite
>universal truths, and the article gave me plenty of data to support
>my biases -:)
>
>---
>
>Warren Montgomery
>ixserve!warren or w.a.montgomery@att.com
>
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Thanks for the lead Warren, I will take a look...

Recently, I have been reading through various pieces of mail from people
and I have been amazed that people claim that I said such and such or that
I think such and such. I have begun to wonder if people do not first decide
that I (or others) think a certain way and then they tell me and if I do
not respond then they seem to become convinced.

Again for the record...

I like C...I have programmed in it for years...

I like object-oriented programming, AI, LISP, Smalltalk, C+@, Eiffel, JAVA
 and a host of other languages which allow people to effectively
 deal with a complex underlying machine that ultimately is intended
 to be used to do something fun, useful or whatever...

I would like to see the C++ ANSI Standard completed and put in a museum
 or a shrine so that people can walk by and see it and "Marvel" at
 the achievement...sort of like the "wall" in Washington D.C.
 If I had a vote, I would package up the mess, have ANSI print it,
 have ISO endorse it (or the other way around) and then once it
 is enshrined...the world can "move forward"...
 Also, I would like to see the names on the wall of all of the
 people that have jammed C++ down people's throats for the past
 15 years...unlike the "wall" in D.C., it is easier to list the
 names of the perpetrators rather than the dead or injured...

I think that Warren and I both know who would be at the top of the list..:)

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