Am 10.03.2017 um 08:19 schrieb Geraldus:
"It is more important to have the right problem done the wrong way, than to have the wrong problem done the right way."
Sounds like a nonsense. Does "problem done the wrong way" implies the problem indeed isn't solved at all, doesn't it?
No, in that context, "done the wrong way" meant that Spaghetti code and similar abominations are okay if the program delivers. For which even today a case can be made if the program is just a one-shot explorative thing where nobody will ever spend a second look at the results or at the program code. Scientific computing often means fiddling with code to fiddle with data; you do dozens of throwaway programs, and if something of interest comes out, you can still write a reviewable one. Or not release the code at all because anybody in the community will write his/her own data validation code anyway.