25 Nov
2007
25 Nov
'07
11:33 p.m.
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:54:44 +0000 (GMT)
From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell)
Subject: Re: Teaching kids about computers...
I shall refrain from commenting :-)
> Tools are developed to make a job easier and
do it better; in my opinion taking
> advantage of those tools and doing things "the easy way" makes you more
> professional, not less.
I would agree, but...
1) Being able ot use the tools, however
proficiently, does not
necessarily equate with being able to design/make those tools.
--------
Why do my recent posts seem to generate such odd responses...
Or is it just me?
Why the "but"? Did I imply anything of the sort? Did I say that a
carpenter should know how to make an electric saw or even repair
it when it would be a more efficient use of his time and skills to just
take it to a shop or buy a new one?
I would not consider anyone to be a competant machinist if they couldn't
grind their own lathe tools. In fact just about every book i have on
metalwork, amateur angineering, clockmaking, etc. points out that many
specialised tools do have to be made in the workshop.
When you're
prodcuing something, of course you use all the applicable
tools. When you're leaning about things, you have to do things 'by hand'
to understand them (and example of this, from another context, is that
photography couses used to insist that the students used cameras with
manaul focuessing and exposure cotnrol, so they could learn what said
adjustments meant, even though if you were being paid to take photographs
you would _probably_ welcome some automation).
In fact I will go further and say that the true
professionals not only use the right
tools, but also fully understnad how those tools work and behave, because that
way they can use them more effectvely.
-----------
I kind of thought that being "proficient," i.e. "having an advanced degree
of
competence" in their use of tools expressed the same sentiment.
Of course as a professional you should know what those camera adjustments
mean and do, but you don't necessarily have to know *how* they work unless you're interested or plan to go into camera design
or repair, or expect to have
to repair it in the middle of nowhere; "how they behave" is not at all the same
as "how they work."
_I_ find it easier to know how something will behave if I know how it
really works. The latter is based on a few simple physical principles
most of the tiem, so it's not something I am going to mis-rememeber at a
critical momnet.
-tony