[oclug] Programming Challenge

[Francis Pinteric]

--- Vic Gedris <vic at worldwidepunk.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 9 Mar 2001, Warren A. Layton wrote:
> 
> > > 6)  An individual or team can submit more than 1 solution, but
> only one
> > >     of those solutions can win.
> >
> > What happens is one solution is very fast and the other is very
> elegant?
> > What happens if a single entry is both fast and elegant? Since
> there are
> > multiple categories, things get a little more complicated.
> >
> > I apologize if this has been addressed before but I don't
> remember
> > hearing about this and I deleted the original thread.
> 
> Ack!  You're making my life difficult!  ;-)  How about choosing one
> solution that you think will work best, and make that your "prize
> winner" before judging starts?

Never fear, an elegant solution is generally the fastest. But not
exclusively so. For instance, any solution in an interpretive
language (Perl, Python, Tk) can never be as fast as one written in a
compiled language (C, C++) which in turn is not as fast as assembly
language. Even within each group you have various speed issues. For
instance, C++ is much slower than regular C (I know, I know, I can
here the objections, but I don't want to end up writing a long
message).

So, if I were to be a judge I'd be looking for elegance since that is
part of the debate that inspired Vic to start this contest. Another
judge may be more interested in speed of execution and yet another
might have other concerns.

In any case, I don't think speed should really be a factor,
considering the wide variety of target languages. In a way you are
comparing apples with oranges, but for me, programming is an art form
and art can be executed in many media.

>>>--fja->

=====
There are no stupid questions, but there are a LOT of inquisitive idiots.

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