What's the intended difference between these two tags ? My question is motivated by the comments on this question. I tried trolling MO to discern the difference, and have failed so far. And no, "you know it when you see it" is not an acceptable answer :)
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- $\begingroup$ I think the question you linked to is both soft and big-picture. $\endgroup$Kaveh– Kaveh2010-08-29 07:29:29 +00:00Commented Aug 29, 2010 at 7:29
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1 How about this:
soft: "having a bland or mellow rather than a sharp or acid taste"
big-picture: "the entire perspective on a situation or issue —used with the"
A soft-question is subjective and argumentative without a precise answer and can be a question about theoretical computer science rather than being a question in it.
Examples:
How would you teach X to undergrads?
Why computer scientists do X when Y happens?
Is theoretical computer science part of pure math?
How long will it take to settle P vs NP in your opinion?
A big-picture question is higher-level question, and although it can be subjective and argumentative it does not need to be, and is a question in theoretical computer science.
Examples:
What is the main idea behind Razborov-Rudich natural proofs?
What are the obstacles to prove a super-polynomial lower-bound for SAT?
Where did the idea of Domain theory came from?
What are the main objects and constructions used in crypto?
Is there a program to settle Unique Games Conjecture?
Is polynomial time Turing computable the right definition for feasible computation?
What evidence do we have for Church-Turing thesis?
(sorry for the bias in my examples.)
- 2$\begingroup$ This is a great answer. We could put this in the FAQ with little editing. $\endgroup$Charles Stewart– Charles Stewart2010-08-29 10:35:31 +00:00Commented Aug 29, 2010 at 10:35