🚀 go-pugleaf

de5@STC06.CTD.ORNL.GOV (SILL D E) writes:
> <9492@goofy.Apple.COM> escher@Apple.COM writes:
...
> >2 Algorithms are useful for many purposes.  An algorithm conceived for a
> >particular use may be readily applied to a completely different problem.
...
> Not true.  Algorithms have very specific functions.  A sorting
> algorithm can't recalculate a spreadsheet or compress a chunk of data.

I think that escher is saying that it may not be easy to anticipate what an
algorithm can be used for.  No, a sort may not recalculate a spreadsheet,
but a topological sort might be used to find the best order of
recalculation.  There are some algorithms around, topological sort being a
good example, which have rather surprising ranges of applicability.
Consider the use of topological sort to build the directory of an object
module library.  Or consider the use of a text hashing algorithm as the
core of a differential file comparator.  Sometimes the most creative step
in the development of a program is the application of an existing, well-
known algorithm to an entirely new use.  This is an especially vexing
aspect of the threat of patents misapplied to algorithms:  They could
unexpectedly stifle work in areas unrelated to the original use of the
algorithm.
-- 
Dick Dunn     rcd@ico.isc.com  -or-  ico!rcd          (303)449-2870
   ...Software, not suits.