Not to worry; it doesn't sound like a flame to me. In fact, your observations are (probably) largely correct. Except for the fact that dep has indicated that he is interested in scientific computing. I guarantee that a degree will be a necessity here, or people won't take him seriously. Heck, look a few nodes down where toma indicates that he believes that a PhD is necessary to do anything interesting in bioinformatics. While I disagree with him on that point, it is clearly true that a demonstrated understanding of science will be necessary to do scientific programming, at least the interesting stuff. And the best way to demonstrate scientific understanding is to complete a science or engineering degree.

As a side note, I do disagree somewhat with toma, as I am the only PhD in my group, and we are all doing interesting things. The others in my group have BS degrees in biology or computer science, sometimes both.

Scott