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Article #2395

Re: Help !!

#2395
From: C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 21:48
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> How do you go about writing an elegant, efficient solution?  For a start,
> DO NOT TRY TO WRITE IT AS A LOGIC PROGRAM!  What you want is a *function*
> from a list of integers to an integer (no backtracking to multiple
> solutions, or solving for either argument is needed).  Therefore, your
> solution should be written in a functional style.  Most students would have
> little trouble in coming up with the following functional solution (in
> Pascal):

If you wanted to write it in Pascal, why didn't you just compile it
in Pascal?  Heiner's program may well run longer than yours.  On the
other hand it is shorter, and much easier to see that it is correct.
Since my machines spend far more time waiting for my keystrokes than
they do working, I see no reason to worry about making code run faster
unless it is now running too slow.  Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof; why should I worry about trivial 'inefficiencies' like
those you see in Heiner's code, until they are making my work
unacceptably slow?

-C. M. Sperberg-McQueen
 University of Illinois at Chicago
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References: <1iv7leINNsc4@rave.larc.nasa.gov> <lenn.726916615@du9ds4> <j_hamer-210193105028@john-ha.cs.aukuni.ac.nz>

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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!news.acns.nwu.edu!uicvm.uic.edu!u35395
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 15:48:35 CST
From: C. M. Sperberg-McQueen <U35395@uicvm.uic.edu>
Message-ID: <93021.154835U35395@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.prolog
Subject: Re: Help !!
References: <1iv7leINNsc4@rave.larc.nasa.gov> <lenn.726916615@du9ds4>
 <j_hamer-210193105028@john-ha.cs.aukuni.ac.nz>
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