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How much weight would you give the opinion of an astronomer (today) who didn't know how to use a telescope?


Many astronomers don't have to use or deal with telescopes, just like not all particle physicists have to know much about accelerators.


I don't know. But I could imagine a theoretical computer scientist that didn't really know how to program, or 'use a computer' (I don't necessarily think that that is likely, but I think it might be possible). I had a TA in an algorithm course who claimed, when asked about which data structure was most appropriate for a certain algorithm, that he didn't really know anything about data structures (his background was pure math).

This might be a useless point in the context of something like an undergraduate degree in computer science, though. I guess it is a matter of how theoretical the program is.




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