6 Apr
2009
6 Apr
'09
8:56 p.m.
>>>> "Fred" == Fred Cisin
<cisin at xenosoft.com> writes:
> So, pull a programmer under 30 at random from his
desk and ask him
> to write a polyphase merge sort optimized for 8 tapes. An art may
> still be lost in practice even if there's literature around
> describing it.
Fred> I've run into "CS" graduates from the university who supposedly
Fred> have learned about really "good" sort algorithms (usually
Fred> "Shell-Metzner"), without understanding which situations an
Fred> optimized "bubble" is better for.
Fred> When presented with "write a sort for a database that is too
Fred> large to fit into memory", the only response that they can
Fred> think of is "well, get more memory."
Fred> I fired one who was unable to write a program to print 3-up
Fred> mailing labels because the printer didn't have a reverse
Fred> line-feed!
Fred> There are way too many "computer scientists" who haven't even
Fred> read Knuth. "They only assigned a few specific pages"
This is a good way to sort the ones worth hiring from those who are
not.
paul