puzzle
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From: Randy Howard on 1 Jul 2005 18:02 On Fri, 1 Jul 2005 04:58:46 -0500, spinoza1111(a)yahoo.com wrote (in article <1120211926.453597.228690(a)z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>): > With which I think I shall end my participation > in this thread. You might reach sainthood yet, just need to perform two more miracles. Might I suggest: 2) learn how to program 3) learn how to speak clearly and concisely -- Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)
From: karen on 7 Jul 2005 21:52 <spinoza1111(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message news:1120211926.453597.228690(a)z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com... > > > karen wrote: >> <spinoza1111(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message >> news:1119341868.873117.107560(a)g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com... >> >> ok here is a puzzle. >> there is an integer array whose length is odd, and all the numbers in >> the array appear exactly two times except one. Find the number in O(n) >> time. Try to do it without using any other data structure. >> >> Note that word "INTEGER". It doesn't HAVE to work for floating point >> systems! > > Real programming is not a matter of solutions isomorphic to problems, > and responding to one problem as expressed "today" with a solution > tuned to that problem. > > Instead, the real programmer recognizes, as an aura around the user's > expression of the problem, a genuine class of problems to which today's > problem will evolve. > <snip> > Conducting itself as an Adult in relation to the user's Adult, real > programming insists on joining the user and in many cases seeing > further. > Real programmers do indeed need to look past the original specs and see if there is other data there to indicate that the problem is not completely defined. But they should also be careful of going beyond specs when those specs are set. The boss doesn't want you to make a rigid solution that has to be rewritten when the specs stretch a bit. The boss also does not want you to spend all of your time finding a solution that covers everything, including things way outside the spec, and end up not producing everything. The boss wants you to solve a problem well and completely and in a timely manner. So, is there anything else besides the original spec to give us more information? Why yes, there is. The subject line is "puzzle". A puzzle means that they aren't looking for a complete, expandable, useful in all cases piece of code. "Puzzle" means they are looking for a slick solution, something that may not be useful anywhere at all, and something that fits the specs as listed. Now, if the OP were looking for an actual solution to a problem, that would have been different. And, if it's any consolation, I'm glad you requested more information on the actual slick solution. I'm not so good of a programmer that I could have figured it out with just clues. So some of us needed more. And if the OP was trying to get his homework done, well at least he had to wade through a lot of reading before the answer was handed to him. -karen
From: Chris Sonnack on 8 Jul 2005 10:47 karen writes: > Real programmers [...] should also be careful of going beyond specs > when those specs are set. The boss doesn't want you to make a > rigid solution that has to be rewritten when the specs stretch a bit. > The boss also does not want you to spend all of your time finding a > solution that covers everything, including things way outside the spec,... In fact, one of my burdens in this new position is that the previous programmer was a "brilliant amateur". He produced convoluted solutions that require significant user knowledge to run and specific environments in which to run and aren't documented hardly at all and which are poorly commented in code and which use variable names, like 'sp' and 'dr'. They were also vastly over-engineered to meet imaginary needs and powered for an imagined future. In most cases, I've had to just throw'm out and start over--not because of NIH, but because the code was unworkable and the specific environment required has changed in some way. But lacking documentation,..... So now my prayers begin with, "Lord, save me from brilliant amateurs....." -- |_ CJSonnack <Chris(a)Sonnack.com> _____________| How's my programming? | |_ http://www.Sonnack.com/ ___________________| Call: 1-800-DEV-NULL | |_____________________________________________|_______________________|
From: spinoza1111 on 10 Jul 2005 06:59 CBFalconer wrote: > karen wrote: > > <spinoza1111(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message > > > ... snip ... > >> > >> STILL fails to work for floating point systems because in FP > >> systems there can be >1 bitwise representation of the same n. > > > > Never mind the validity of the code. Do you recall the original > > specs? > > > > "ok here is a puzzle. there is an integer array whose length is > > odd, and all the the array appear exactly two times except one. > > Find the number in O(n) time. Try to do it without using any > > other data structure." > > > > Note that word "INTEGER". It doesn't HAVE to work for floating > > point systems! > > Shhh. You might interfere with the exposition of his erudition. I am not trying to expose erudition and I for one resent the rather self-defeating idea that to do other than engage in self-defeating irony, racism and sexism is somehow snobbish or vain. Furthermore, in this thread, I have repeatedly acknowledged that I did not have enough erudition to think of, or in my case from grad school remember, the XOR solution. What to you is "erudition" is simply the complete sentence and topic paragraph. Get used to it. It is called in fact communication, as opposed to a bunch of self-defeating creeps with anger management problems blowing off steam in such a manner that has made Internet knowledge a joke. > > -- > Some informative links: > news:news.announce.newusers > http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/ > http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html > http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html > http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html
From: CBFalconer on 10 Jul 2005 12:11
spinoza1111(a)yahoo.com wrote: > .... snip ... > > Does he, Karen? And who is this "boss"? > > Is he Ken Lay of Enron? Odds are that Ken Lay didn't want his .... snip ... He's baaaack. Expanding a 50 line posting to 160 lines of non-responsive off-topic bilgewater. -- "If you want to post a followup via groups.google.com, don't use the broken "Reply" link at the bottom of the article. Click on "show options" at the top of the article, then click on the "Reply" at the bottom of the article headers." - Keith Thompson |