"[S]ome will claim that they give the best service to engineers by concentrating mainly on the form and structure of the governing equations... for once the foundations have been laid properly (they say), the solution of all problems becomes merely a mathematical or computational exercise... and indeed unless the foundations have been laid properly (they say), any resulting solutions are of questionable validity. Another group will argue... they can serve engineers best by providing a set or 'suite' of computer programmes, which are designed to solve a range of relevant problems... and... such programmes renders obsolete... the theory of shell structures... I have rejected both... the important thing is for engineers to understand how shell structures behave..."