Re: gEDA-user: Power (and other non-graphical) pins

[der Mouse <mouse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>> The generalist will be at a disadvantage when faced with a task
>>> that pushes state of the art for a specific field.
> Absolutely not.  The generalist has a huge advantage, because at the
> cutting edge there is no "specific field", only a problem to be
> solved.  To truly push the state of the art almost always requires
> importing ideas from outside any "specific field", because the
> specialists have mastered *those*, and that's what defines the "state
> of the art".

But there is a way in which the generalist will be at a disadvantage,
too: the generalist will not be familiar with the detailed tools
available to the specialist.  For example, if I (mostly a generalist)
were to want to write data-blind multiplication code (something that is
valuable for cryptography) based on Fourier transforms but didn't know
anything about FFTs, I would be at a substantial disadvantage.  If I
weren't familiar with even the concept of a Fourier transform, I would
be at a pretty much catastrophic disadvantage.  (As it is, I'm at a
mild disadvantage bceause I don't know FFTs in detail, but only a mild
one because I know they exist, have a vague knowledge of them, and know
how to find details when I care.)

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