i really don't want to turn this into a thread that never dies, so let me just clarify what i'm talking about:
On Thu, 23 Aug 2007, linux-os (Dick Johnson) wrote: > On Thu, 23 Aug 2007, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > > i'm not sure that it's appropriate for LKML folks to be giving > > anyone suggestions for projects. the eventual choice of project > > should be based on what *shaneed* wants, not what other people > > tell him he should be doing. > > in addition, sometimes part of the work involved in a school > > project involves doing enough research to just make the *choice*. > > what shaneed is asking is that others do that work for him. > > IMHO, he should be told politely but firmly that selecting a topic > > is *his* problem. that's just part of the academic process. > > > Of course it is appropriate. Day's response is very strange indeed. > As part of a student's research, he should ask questions of people > who are likely to know some answers about his query. > > In fact, if students for which I am an adviser didn't ask such > questions, and simply selected a project, I would question the > validity of the project. Projects are not selected in a vacuum. Just > like "real world" industry, there must be a need (read market) for > the project (read product). let's make sure we're not talking at cross-purposes here, ok? i see nothing wrong with someone asking for suggestions for projects in a particular area, such as, "hey, i'm particularly interested in the efficiency of R/W operations to flash-based filesystems, can someone suggest a project in that area that would ultimately be useful to the kernel community in general?" that's perfect, no problem there, i think that's a *great* idea. however, what the OP seemed to be asking was for suggestions for a project with a wide-open playing field, with no restrictions whatever, and that's what i find inappropriate. someone asking for that kind of help should at least have put in the effort to narrow the field of interest. as i said, that's part of the academic process -- putting in the time to, minimally, figure out what field you're interested in. once you do that, then you're good to go. rday -- ======================================================================== Robert P. J. Day Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA http://crashcourse.ca ======================================================================== - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
