| Re: power style labels [message #14007 is a reply to message #14006] |
Sun, 10 January 1999 00:00   |
davidf
Messages: 2866
Registered: September 1996
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Senior Member |
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Stein Vidar Hagfors Haugan (steinhh@ulrik.uio.no) writes:
> Dave,
>
> I just cancelled a previous post where I had written:
>
>> Dave,
>>
>> Shimizu said he didn't want to use the [xyz]tickNAME keyword,
>> he didn't say anything about the [xyz]tickFORMAT keyword.
> [...]
>> Sure, dinner sounds good, since you decided to take up the
>> bet :-)
>
> Now that I've re-read the original question, I see that Shimizu
> did mention ytickformat:
>
>> ...I don't like to use following style.
>>> plot, [0, 1e4], ytickformat = '(e7.1)'
>
> However, I think what he meant was he didn't like the look of
> using ytickformat='(e7.1)', not that he wouldn't use ytickformat
> at all.... how about a draw?
This whole discusssion reminds me of my favorite
pet peeve about technical support engineers. So many
of them (like I did) answer the *question* rather than
(like Stein Vidar did) solve the *problem*. And I suspect
many of them do it for the same reason I did: there are
not enough hours in the day to do everything that
needs doing. Answering questions is quite a bit easier
than solving problems. :-)
But the number one rule of technical support, it seems
to me, is that the question is almost always indicative
of confusion, not clear thinking. If most bright people
think clearly about a problem, they can usually solve
it on their own. Thus, just answering the question is
often not all that helpful. The best support engineers,
like Stein Vidar, anticipate the problem behind the question
and work to solve that. Often the problem is nothing more
than fuzzy (or incomplete) thinking on the part of the user.
In any case, I'll be happy to spring for dinner the next
time I'm in Oslo because no matter which question you answer--
the one asked or the one anticipated--I almost always
learn something worth knowing. :-)
Cheers,
David
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting
Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
Coyote's Guide to IDL Progamming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Toll-Free IDL Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155
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