TITLE: But Raise Your Hand First
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: May 30, 2007  4:27 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
Weinberg on
<A HREF="http://weinbergonwriting.blogspot.com/2007/01/dealing-with-critics-of-all-ages.html">
   assessing the value of a critic's comments</A>:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
Here's an excellent test to perform before listening to
any critic, inside or outside:

<STRONG>What have they written that shows they have the
credentials to justify the worth of their criticism?</STRONG>

This test excludes most high-school and college teachers
of English, most of your friends, lots of editors and
agents, and your mother.

It also excludes your [inner] four-year-old, who's never
written anything.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

Computer science students should show due respect to their
professors (please!), but they might take this advice to
heart when deciding how deeply to take criticism of their
writing -- their programs.  Your goal in a course is to
learn something, and the professor's job is to help you.
But ultimately you are responsible for what you learn, and
it's important to realize that the prof's evaluation is
just one -- often very good -- source.  Listen, try to
decide what is most valuable, learn, and move on.  You'll
start to develop your own tastes and skills that are
independent of your the instructors criticism.

Weinberg's advice is more specific.  If the critic has
never written anything that justifies the worth of their
criticism, then the criticism may not be all that valuable.
I've written before about the
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2006-09.html#e2006-09-18T18_03_58.htm">
   relevance of a CS Ph.D.</A>
to teaching software development.  Most CS professors have
written a fair amount of code in their days, and some have
substantial industry experience.  A few continue to program
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2006-12.html#e2006-12-02T10_42_40.htm">
   whenever they can</A>.
But frankly some CS profs don't write much code in their
current jobs, and a small group have never written any
substantial program.  As sad as it is for me to say, those
are the folks whose criticism you sometimes simply have to
take with a grain of salt when you are learning from them.

The problem for students is that they are not ideally situated
to decide whose criticism is worth acting on.  Looking for
evidence is a good first step.  Students are also not ideally
situated to evaluate the quality of the evidence, so some
caution is in order.

Weinberg's advice reminds me of something Brian Marick said,
on a panel at the
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2005-10.html#e2005-10-17T21_54_33.htm">
   OOPSLA'05  Educators' Symposium</A>.
He suggested that no one be allowed to teach university
computer science (or was it software development?) unless
said person had been a significant contributor to an
open-source software project.  I think his motivation
is similar to what Weinberg suggests, only broader.  Not
only should we consider someone's experience when assessing
the value of that person's criticism, we should also consider
the person's experience when assessing the value of what they
are able to teach us.

Of course, you should temper this advice as well with a
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-03.html#e2007-03-15T16_55_51.htm">
   little caution</A>.
Even when you don't have handy evidence, that doesn't mean
the evidence doesn't exist.  Even if no evidence exists, that
doesn't mean you have nothing to learn from the person.  The
most productive learners find ways to learn whatever their
circumstances.  Don't close the door on a chance to learn just
because of some good advice.

So, I've managed to bring earlier threads together involving
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-05.html#e2007-05-22T15_55_00.htm">
   Brian Marick</A>
and
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-05.html#e2007-05-30T07_01_39.htm">
   Gerald Weinberg</A>,
with a passing reference to
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-03.html#e2007-03-15T16_55_51.htm">
   Elvis Costello</A>
to boot.  That will have to do for closure.  (It may also
boost Brian's ego a bit.)
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