Re: [xml-dev] Designing an experiment to gather evidence onapproaches to

[John Cowan <cowan@mercury.ccil.org>]

Richard Salz scripsit:

> Don't tell Ptolemy, Copernicus, et al.

Yeah, astronomy is a special case; so are the historical sciences like
evolutionary biology and history itself.  The standards of evidence are
unavoidably lower.

> Indeed, I'd say such a Platonic ideal is a fool's errand in the real
> world

Depends on what you are doing.  It's the only reliable way to determine
the safety and efficacy of drugs (devices, surgery, etc.), so we do it
even though it costs a fortune and may hurt people.

> let alone one with so many variables as "IT projects."  All we have   
> in this situation is some data points of experience to help guide our 
> architectural decisions.                                              

Indeed.  But I was merely addressing the difference between anecdotal
and scientific evidence.

-- 
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