Research is exciting. But should routine be automated?
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-09-14 18:29:26 - Graham Ellis
The first time you do something, it's research and exciting. The second time, it's development and it's fun. The third time, you're a technician and you get pleasure in making sure the job is done efficienctly. And the fourth time, you're just turning the handle and wondering how you can automate the task so you don't have to do it the fifth time.Not quite my philosophy, but I enjoy the variation of "new" and moving stuff forward, and I prefer to automate repetitive tasks rather than spend my time repeating things. The words come from Clifford Stoll, who I came across as author of "The Cuckoo's egg" where his investigation of a small accounting error on a Berkely timeshare system lead him into the early world of international computer security. Chris emailed me a youtube link - [here] - of Clifford giving a talk. Interesting to watch ...
Of course, much of what I teach is about researching and developing methods and algorithms, and then automating the techniques learned ... so I guess I share an element of Clifford's philosophy even if I don't think I could put on quite such as show as he does. "The Cuckoo's Egg ... together with over 700 other books ... may be found in our library at Well House Manor when you come on a Training Course with us.