Vigorous Public Debates in Academic Computer Science
https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2017/12/223057-research-for-practice/fulltext [cacm.acm.org]
2017-12-11 22:21
Computer science does not have a culture of retraction, and in any case many of these debates are not about the kinds of mistakes that lead to retractions. The useful debates, the ones we can learn from, are those where both sides are publicly available in writing. These are a valuable instructional resource, and I sometimes assign them as reading to my students. They show an important part of science that often gets swept under the rug—students enjoy seeing that things are not as cut-and-dried as teachers often try to make them sound.