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We had some discussions previously that questions from outside theory are be welcome on this site (to a reasonable extent). We have a tag for modeling: formal-modeling. I think it would be nice to have one for applications also, but don't know what to name it. I first created [application] but then changed it to application-of-theory. Another possibility is [theory-in-practice].

Should we have a tag for questions about applications of theory?

If positive, what should be its name? And which questions should be tagged using it?

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  • $\begingroup$ What is an "application of theory?" Serious question. When would I use such a tag, and when not? $\endgroup$
    – Aaron Sterling
    Commented Dec 12, 2010 at 3:47
  • $\begingroup$ @Aaron: I was thinking to use it for questions that come up previously in the discussions about elementary/non-research-level questions like those suggested by Peter, where someone from outside theory has a theory related question that we can answer. About when to use the tag, it is still not very clear to me and that was the reason for asking this question, I have tagged two question already that I thought would count as applications of theory outside theory. $\endgroup$
    – Kaveh
    Commented Dec 12, 2010 at 4:03
  • $\begingroup$ I thought that it might be nice to have such question tagged, as Peter said previously (if I remember correctly) it is kind of out-reach and also benefits theory, it shows that what theoretical computer scientists do is not disconnected from other parts of computer science. One might also find new theoretical questions to work on from looking at them. $\endgroup$
    – Kaveh
    Commented Dec 12, 2010 at 4:06
  • $\begingroup$ We have to make the decision between whether an elementary question is an application of theory outside theory or not when deciding on closing an elementary/non-research-level question (asking OP to provide motivation is helpful in making these decision) so tagging them should not be difficult. I think it should be possible to tell if a question is an application of theory outside theory, but as I said the issues are not completely clear for me and would like to hear more opinions on whether it is a good idea to have such a tag or not. $\endgroup$
    – Kaveh
    Commented Dec 12, 2010 at 4:14
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    $\begingroup$ I think it's a good idea to have such a tag (and I just tagged something with it, in fact). Applications-of-theory is a good choice for the tag. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Dec 20, 2010 at 15:04

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I do not mind the existence of the tag although I do not see a compelling reason why we need that tag. It is not always clear whether a question belongs to “application” or not, and I will not try hard to decide one way or the other.

As for the name, (or “applications-of-theory”) seems the best. could be misinterpreted as questions about application software. I do not think that is easily discoverable. To address Suresh’s concern that no one will search for , the input fields which expect tags have autocompletion which completes “appl” to . Well, except the general search box. :(

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My test for tags is: will anyone search for them ? in that sense, 'applications' works, but not the more verbose 'applications-of-theory'

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