It's POV-Ray related, but just tangential enough that I thought I'd post this to
p.o-t.  So I was reading through a random book full of papers from a workshop in
2003, and the first is titled, "Computational Science 'Same Old Silence, Same
Old Mistakes' 'Something More Is Needed...'" by James J Quirk.  You might need
to fix spaces in the link, but here it is on Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=R4YFoTP3l6cC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=james+j+quirk+%22same+old+silence%22&source=bl&ots=qHz9
Z_rVut&sig=ebQp7wHvElVGRDlVucfJEpCHTTE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#PPA25,M1

From the paper:

"Whether computational science can rise to the challenge is anyone's guess.  But
in 2016 it would be nice to think that a workshop proceeding such as this one
would take the form of an electronic document, that retains the rigour of this
typeset book, but which would allow readers to sample the reported work
firsthand, without having to wade through the humdrum software details which
today are viewed as unavoidable.  The hope is that the time saved programming
can be employed on more lasting scientific activities.  Instead of scientific
discovery through advanced computing, there will be scientific discovery
through accessible computing.  This simple shift in emphasis might not appear
to be that big a deal, but it will result in a movement away from general
programming languages, like Fortran 90 and C++, to domain specific languages,
like [POVRAY].

"Although Povray is a hobbyist activity it contains many elements that put
computational science's software efforts to shame.  For example, Povray's users
are not passive operators of a code.  The international raytracing competition
[IRTC] has harnessed their competitive spirit to produce wondrous
photo-realistic images that act to inspire that community's programming skills.
 Computational science desperately needs something similar.  If nothing else, it
will help erode the mentality where many scientists, today, wear their
programming ineptitudes as a badge of honour.


It's a few years old now, but (1) I was surprised to see it ("Hey! POV-Ray!"),
and (2) it seems no less relevant today than it was then.  I think people from
the computer science culture around here would be surprised to find out how
easy it is to launch a career in computing (coding, not just using) without any
proper training. That's not to say there aren't a lot of people out there who
are well-qualified and do excellent work, but I don't doubt that huge amounts
of time and money are wasted on issues that could be resolved with a couple 100
or 200-level CS courses.  On the other side of the coin, I think you'd be
surprised at how highly-valued your skills are in a huge number of fields that
aren't directly related to computing.  Just something to think about, I guess,
but I thought it was a pretty interesting paper.

 - Ricky

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