6 Apr
2009
6 Apr
'09
5:48 p.m.
>>>> "Chuck" == Chuck Guzis
<cclist at sydex.com> writes:
Chuck> I don't know if it's true anymore, but in the EDP world,
Chuck> knowing how to do an efficient external sort on tape (cf:
Chuck> oscillating merge, polyphase merge, cascade merge, balanced
Chuck> merge) used to be a requirement for a programmer. Now, it's
Chuck> probably a lost art.
Not quite; it's still written up in detail in Knuth volume 3.
Some of this stuff still makes sense. You still need external sort to
sort really large data files, and algorithms that access the external
files sequentially are still winners even with disk files.
paul