Paul on 20 Oct 2003 16:59:01 -0400


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Re: [work] [PLUG] Book Recommendation


Mental wrote:

On Mon, Oct 20, 2003 at 03:12:54PM -0400, Paul wrote:


There is a positive as well as negative side to that. Doing things manually results in weaker scripting skills, but higher intimancy with the system. Since you can't script what you don't understand, knowing the system is more important than being able to script. After all, anyone can buy a book to learn how to script.




Your argument seems to refute itself. If anyone can buy a book and learn
to script, then it must not be difficult. However, if you cant script what
you dont understand then it must be difficult. So if you buy a book on
scripting you can learn more quickly?



Not at all. My point is that the knowledge of what your script will operate on is more important than your present ability to write a script. The purpose of many scripts is to automate that which you don't want to do manually, or to allow someone else to accomplish a task without knowing the technical details behind it. You, as the scripter, must first understand what your are trying to accomplish, then, figure out how to write a script to do it.



To get more abstract, which is better, a specialized super game machine which can beat Chess masters, or a learning machine which can evaluate a situation and adapt to it?




Are you playing chess or are you trying to give it a turing test?


Less abstract: I'm saying you can hire an expert consultant or grow your own expert employee.


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