From time to time, I receive EMAIL from people I've never heard of, presumably because an Internet search has turned up something on my web site of interest to them.
Since people can see everything, and copy what they like, there is no need to contact me directly. But occasionally, they send me a compliment, a comment, or some other message. I am as much a fool for compliments as the next person; I'm always interested in software suggestions and error reports, and occasionally can offer limited (in more than one sense) guidance. These, I think, constitute appropriate kinds of interaction for this situation.
I am also happy, when time permits, to discuss issues of interest with people who have something to tell me. I have added support for some file formats to help people who had an interesting problem. I have, at my peril, written a routine or two to help someone out, because I decided that I was interested in having that routine too.
But I have no time or patience for the thoughtless and impertinent messages I get, asking me to rewrite code to new specifications, to explain the mathematical background behind an algorithm, to convert a program to another language, to develop utility programs to run on a PC, to help someone out of a mundane programming probelm, or in general, to do your homework.
I'm sure such people have not read this far, and are already sending me more requests, but in case you don't believe me, I have received messages from people I have never heard of, informing me that they need an 8086 assembly language program to add two numbers, or that there's an elaborate two point boundary value problem with doubtful boundary conditions for which they need a solution routine, in a language of their choice...no, that's fixed, now they need a a graphics routine. I cannot imagine an appropriate response to such impertinence, which to my mind simply signals that the Internet is, to some people, a vast ocean of harmless drudges who can be trolled for answers to homework. Well, I ain't doin' it.
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