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0 pointsbaobabKoodaa4y ago0 comments

You're arguing that someone who doesn't care to learn anything about algorithms is going to do a good job at optimizing algorithms.

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jjav4y ago

No, not at all!

I am saying that being able to regurgitate an implementation of quicksort (to keep on the sorting example) onto a whiteboard is not a useful skill. There will never be a need to do this in a real life job.

The truly useful skill is being able (and interested!) in using a profiler to find bottlenecks, identify what is being done there (let's say, sorting) and being able to find a better replacement algorithm in the literature and change to code to use a well-optimized implementation (which exists already in just about every ecosystem, no need to reimplement it from memory).

baobabKoodaaOP4y ago

> I am saying that being able to regurgitate an implementation of quicksort (to keep on the sorting example) onto a whiteboard is not a useful skill.

In that case I'm not sure why you're arguing against me, because I've repeatedly expressed my dislike towards algorithm memorization. I don't believe memorizing algorithms is useful at all. It might give a very small edge in competitive programming, but it's not what competitive programming is about either. The best competitors have amazing skills at creating algorithms to solve problems ("create" as opposed to "memorize").

If you look up the parent thread, you started arguing against me when I said "Developers who have no interest towards algorithms will not [be good at some things]".

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