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3:08:24
beach
Yesterday, due to better organization of the module that implements the package system, I split the existing system (which contained code for both the package system and for symbols) into two, one for symbols and one for the package system.
3:08:25
beach
Today is Monday, and Monday mornings are chaotic around here, but I will start imagining a test suite for the package system, since I now have an "extrinsic" version of it too.
3:14:42
beach
The package system is interesting for SICL in terms of metacircularity. I mean (in-package #:sicl-package) ... (defclass package...)
3:22:05
zephyr
beach i found your observation of practical vs theoretic great. i would add that the reason the theoreticians keep making this mistake is because practitioners would always rather practice than explain to a (stubborn) theoretician
3:22:33
zephyr
of course, the impatience of the practioner bites them in other ways, and it all evens out :-)
3:23:25
beach
Maybe so. But it works out well for the theoreticians. They get published and admired by their colleagues. I don't think they care whether what they do is practically useful. They leave that aspect to others.
3:27:54
beach
Either way, I have a bit more than 6 month until I retire, so I don't have to deal with them anymore. :)
3:40:29
beach
I once saw a presentation by a mathematician colleague who aspired to become part of our group doing analysis and synthesis of sound, and he explained a way to do frequency analysis using linear algebra.
3:40:33
beach
After several blackboards of matrix manipulations, he made an assumption about eigenvalues that he then said was an assumption about the phases of the partials being statistically independent.
3:40:41
beach
But then I pointed out to him that for most sounds we deal with, the phases are in lockstep. Only for some instruments, like piano, are the phases independent.
3:40:42
beach
He had made this assumption so that he could solve the equations that came up, but without considering the practical implications.