6 Apr
2009
6 Apr
'09
9:13 p.m.
I've run into "CS" graduates from the
university who supposedly have
learned about really "good" sort algorithms (usually
"Shell-Metzner"), without understanding which situations an optimized
"bubble" is better for.
I'm not sure a CS graduate _should_. That's less an aspect of the
theoretical discipline CS is than of the correpsnoding practical
discipline (programming, software engineering, pick your favourite term
for it). Learning about the difference between shellsort's complexity
and bubblesort's and heapsort's is important. But I'm not sure I'd
expect a theoretician to correctly choose the right one for any
particular application.
Well, except for people who got a "CS" degree from schools that don't
understand the difference between theory and practice, I suppose. But
I wouldn't expect too much of them ayway. (Sure, they might be good.
But so might someone who's totally self-taught - and my money would be
on the latter as more likely to be.)
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