Computation attitude

When used properly the computer is a very effective tool when it is used incorrectly, the results can be disastrous. Many lay people believe that computers can think. They believe that all you need to do is to ask a computer a question and it will provide the correct answer. They have blind faith in its results. If the computer output gives an answer, it must be right. Every company using computers has probably been burned more than once by this very attitude, which has persisted even in highly intelligent people who should have known better. 

This, it seemed, was what was meant by machine language. A cave dweller could out-talk this apparatus just by grunting, 1 thought. But there was no room for a cynical attitude 1 had only five days to absorb two weeks of computer wisdom. By day three, 1 began to feel the need to seek treatment for a bad case of ones and zeros. Unfortunately, there was no crash cart available for this affliction. 

This pragmatic attitude is also strongly reflected in the last section of the guide. Here, the examples are not so much intended to show off interesting chemistry, but rather to illustrate in some detail how computation can assist in elaborating chemistry. 

Today, however, one senses that there has been an exponential growth in computational power.This change in circumstances raises the question of whether we should reexamine our attitudes. Is it possible that the time is at hand when... 

A method of imparting knowledge or desired attitudes. This type of training typically occurs in a classroom-led or self-instructional system (paper or computer based). 

A growing number of works in computer science address the descriptive simulation of physicochemical systems through novel integration of (1) numerical simulations, (2) symbolic manipulations, and (3) analytic knowledge from mathematics. Typical examples of this attitude are the following ... 

Although Platz was certainly the driving force behind their collaboration, occasionally Borden did suggest a new direction. For example, the Borden group s calculations of the effects of cyano substituents on the phenylnitrene rearrangement were completed prior to Platz experimental tests of the computational predictions. It is more fun to make the prediction before the experiment is done, said Borden. This attitude results from the familiar complaint of experimentalists about computational chemists All you ever do is predict things that are already known ... 

As was noted in Bersohn-Esack s review, The history of every computer application is marked by an initial over-optimism. The over-optimism results from the fact that people are successful in getting the computer to consider and solve simple problems in their area but the transition from simple problems to complicated ones is much more difficult than anticipated . In fact, the general attitude toward the efficiency of computer assistance in the elaboration of... 

Let us change our traditional attitude to the construction of programs Instead of imagining that our main task is to instruct a computer what to do, let us concentrate rather on explaining to human beings what we want a computer to do. ... 

Our students greatly enjoyed using the mouse to make their responses. Consequently, they had a positive attitude while interacting with SPS. This was especially important for our older students (many of those enrolled at the community college) and for those students having little or no prior computer experience. 

In conclusion, findings from the present study have clearly shown that the use of computer simulations in the teaching of Atomic Structure and Bonding had a positive impact on students, both in terms of their performance and their attitudes, as well as on their motivation during the lessons. Results from the achievement tests have undoubtedly indicated that students in the treatment group outperformed their friends in the control group. Thus, from the present research, it can be concluded... 

And yet the chemist adopts a pluralistic attitude toward the various theories and feels quite free to adopt whichever one seems best adapted to a particular problem. VSEPR theory is used to rationalize molecular geometries, ligand field theory to explain the spectral and magnetic properties of metal complexes, and so on. MO theory has almost entirely displaced VB theory over the last few decades. But chemists do not usually claim that the former is "right" in some sense and the latter is "wrong." Instead, the reason for the eclipse of VB theory seems to have been that MO theory is better adapted for incorporation into large and sophisticated computer programs ... 

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