Saturday, June 14, 2008

Advices for Researchers


Persistence



  • Genius begins great works. Labor alone finishes them. -Joseph Joubert-


  • "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." -Calvin Coolidge-


  • The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win. - Bobby Knight-

Simplicity




  • "Perfection is attained, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." -Antoine de St. Exupery-


  • Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoidit. Geniuses remove it. "To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day." -Lao-tse-


  • I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when looked at in the right way, did not become still more complicated. - Poul Anderson-


  • Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it. "There are two ways of constructing a software design: one way is tomake it so simple that there are {\em obviously} no deficienciesand the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no{\em obvious} deficiencies." C.A.R. Hoare "The Emperor's Old Clothes" CACM Feb 1981


Skepticism




  • "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you're theeasiest person to fool." - Richard Feynman"-


  • The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heraldsnew discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...'"-Isaac Asimov"-


  • When you discover a fluke, first determine if a whale is attached to it."-Dennis O'Connor-


  • "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies." -Friedrich Nietzsche"-


  • In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is." -anonymous-


  • Mohandas K. Gandhi often changed his mind publicly. An aide once askedhim how he could so freely contradict this week what he had said justlast week. The great man replied that it was because this week he knewbetter."... it doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matterhow smart you are -- if it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong."- R.P. Feynman-


  • Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you torecognize a mistake when you make it again. - F.P. JONES-

Criticism and learning from others




  • Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary; it fullfills thesame function as pain in the human body, it calls attention to thedevelopment of an unhealthy state of things.-Whinston Churchill


  • We all admire the wisdom of people who come to us for advice. - Jack Herbert


  • Experience is a hard teacher.She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards. -ANONYMOUS-


  • Learn what not to do from the experience of others. It's cheaper than your own. - J. WINTER SMITHA -


  • A word to the wise isn't nearly as good as a word from the wise.In the course of my life I have often had to eat my words, and I mustconfess that I have always found it a wholesome diet. -Whinston Churchill-


  • Wise men learn by other men's mistakes, fools by their own." -H. G. Wells-


  • To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence. -Mark Twain (1835-1910)-


Goal setting




  • Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't crossa chasm in two small jumps. -David Lloyd George-


  • The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. - Chinese Proverb-


  • "Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs."Be always displeased at what thou art,if thou desire to attain to what thou art not;for where thou hast pleased thyself, there thou abidest. -Quarles (1592-1644)-


  • In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though theyshould fail immediately, they had better aim at something high. -Henry David Thoreau-


  • Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is alsoeasy to handle: You've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve."Seek not to follow in the footsteps of wise men; seek what they sought."-Basho-


  • Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. -Whinston Churchill-


  • You can't size a bridge by counting the swimmers. -Barksdale- (Netscape CEO)"A problem well stated is half solved."

Grab bag




  • If you want truely to understand something, try to change it. - Kurt Lewin-


  • "For every problem, there exists a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -H. L. Mencken-


  • "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be calledresearch, would it?" -Albert Einstein-


  • "All models are wrong, but some are useful" - George Box-


  • The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more. -Jonas Salk, MD-


  • We can never get rid of mouse ideas completely; theykeep turning up again and again, and nibble, nibble - no matter how often we drive them off. The best wayto keep them down is to have a few good strong catideas to chase them. - Samuel Butler-


  • "Why do I rob banks? That's where the money is."-Willie Sutton- (professional bank robber;>100 career heists)


  • *Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue parceque je n'ai pas eu le loisirde la faire plus courte.*-Blaise Pascal (Lettres Provinciales (1657), xvi) {* I have made this letter longer than usual, because I lack the time to make it short.*}


  • "The truly great things happen a genius is alone. This is trueespecially among golfers." -J. R. Coulson-


  • "I used to think the mind was the most wonderful organ in the body. Then, I realized who was telling me that." "Obviousness is always the enemy of correctness." -Bertrand Russell-


  • "There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact." -Mark Twain-


  • "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." -Albert Einstein-


  • "The juvenile seasquirt wanders through the sea searching for asuitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home forlife. For this task it has a rudimentary nervous system. When itfinds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore soit eats it. It's rather like getting tenure." -Anonymous-


  • "It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in an argument." -W. G. McAdoo-


  • "Working with theories is not like skeet shooting, where theories are loftedup and BANG, they are shot down with a falsification bullet, and that's theend of that theory. Theories are more like graduate students, once admittedyou try hard to avoid flunking them out, it being much better for them andfor the world if they can become long-term contributors to society." - Allen Newell-


  • "To rename is to innovate."Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined towrite "very"; youreditor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. - Mark Twain-


  • But in our enthusiasm, we could not resist a radical overhaul of thesystem, in which all of its major weaknesses have been exposed,analyzed, and replaced with new weaknesses. - Bruce Leverett- "Register Allocation in Optimizing Compilers"


  • The problem with engineers is that they tend to cheat in order to getresults. The problem with mathematicians is that they tend to work on toyproblems in order to get results. The problem with program verifiers is that they tend to cheat at toy problems in order to get results.The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship. - Robert Heinlein-


  • "Don't worry about people stealing yourideas. If your ideas are anygood, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." -Howard Aiken-


  • Don't be humble ... you're not that great. -Golda Meir-


  • "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit itfrankly and try another. But above all, try something" -Roosevelt-


  • I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. -Douglas Adams-


  • Meetings that are held for basically the same reason that Arbor Dayis observed - namely, tradition. For example, a lot of managerialpeople like to meet on Monday, because it's Monday. You'll get used toit. You'd better, because this kind accounts for 83% of all meetings(based on a study in which I wrote down numbers until one of themlooked about right). This type of meeting operates the way "Show andTell" does in nursery school, with everyone getting to say something, the difference being that in nursery school, the kids actually havesomething to say. -Dave Berry-


  • "Measure twice. Cut once" -Carpenter's motto-


  • Plan to throw one away; you will anyhow. If there is anything new about the function of a system, the first implementation will have tobe redone completely to achieve a satisfactory (i.e., acceptably small, fast, and maintainable) result. It costs a lot less if you planto have a prototype.--Butler Lampson- "Hints for computer system design"


  • "Those who don't write down their thoughts are condemnded to rethink them."-Jay Misra-


  • It is insufficiently considered that men more often require to be reminded than informed. - Samuel Johnson-


  • Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana-


  • "There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself." - Johann Sebestian Bach-


  • Drucker's Dictum: Doing things right is not as important as doing theright things

Rakan seperjuangan

p/s: Compiled by Mike Dahlin.

8 comments:

arip said...

bnyk nyer ko nyer falsafah mase wat master.. cayalah..

zaihana said...

macam dah maleh je nak jadik researcher..hukhukhuk..nak bukak butik, bley?

arip said...

perghh.... nak bukak butik plak... tapi ko wat laa baju melayu skali la... bley aku tempah baju free kat ko...?

azman said...

Aku pn nk baju melayu free gak, mana aci klu radin je dpt hehehehehe....

ayong afzan said...

betul la Miey. mcm takde motivasi dah nak jadi researcher. penat otak je rasanya.macam nak kembali ke cita-cita yang hakiki - full-time housewife with 3k salary+bonus every year. ahaks..

ayong afzan said...

over the pagar betul 2 orang jejak a malaya ni. free aje nak nya..

azman said...

Kitorang over the pagar ek...ko tu pn sama cik riza ooi, jadi suri rumah siap nk gaji 3K pastu nk bonus lak huhuhu...susah sgt ke jadi suri rumah smpi perlu gaji yg cm2 dgn bonus tahunan????...hehe..=P

ayong afzan said...

hohoho..en. azman! ko ingat keje suri rumah tu senang ke? korang2 yang lelaki ni sanggup ke nak sahut cabaran jadi suri rumah? ada berani?hahahah...