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Re: Pushing all the buttons

• To: rjm@z..., Rick Jelliffe <ricko@a...>
• Subject: Re: Pushing all the buttons
• From: Don Bate <donbate@i...>
• Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 16:57:35 -0500
• Cc: XML Dev <xml-dev@l...>
• In-reply-to: <1064178649.25250.12.camel@z...>
• References: <3F6C70A9.5040904@t...> <3F6D925F.7020906@a...> <1064149611.25250.3.camel@z...> <3F6DE8DA.8050503@a...><1064178649.25250.12.camel@z...>

At 7:10 AM +1000 9/22/03, Rick Marshall wrote:
>don't get me wrong - efficiency is important, i should know - it took me
>10 years to get my database working fast enough, but what i'm saying is
>it's irrelevant if the project doesn't work first.
>
>in software engineering terms, bubble sort is a lousy mechanism, but it
>works (and you'd be amazed at just how many hackers still use it). once
>we knew sorting works we could develop better mechanisms - and quick
>sort remains the staple of in memory sorting - because it's
>mathematically as good as it gets - and it's heaps (excuse the pun)
>better.

You need to go back and re-read your Knuth. There are several 
algorithms that are faster than quicksort. For example, Radix sort is 
O(n) with a relatively small key size and it doesn't suffer the 
O(n**2) behavior when the data is already close to being sorted.
-- 
Don Bate               | Specializing in Consulting and Mentoring in
Bate Consulting, Inc   | Object-Oriented Technologies,
                        | Software Architecture, and Software Process
(972) 618-0208 voice
(972) 618-0216 fax
donbate@i...

• References:
  • Pushing all the buttons
    • From: Tim Bray <tbray@t...>
  • Re: Pushing all the buttons
    • From: Rick Jelliffe <ricko@a...>
  • Re: Pushing all the buttons
    • From: Rick Marshall <rjm@z...>
  • Re: Pushing all the buttons
    • From: Rick Jelliffe <ricko@a...>
  • Re: Pushing all the buttons
    • From: Rick Marshall <rjm@z...>

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