Programmers like to program. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone. Unfortunately, sometimes they program when they shouldn’t. Modern development platforms and languages are packed with useful functions in their libraries, but too many developers never bother to learn what’s in those libraries, so they waste time implementing (usually badly) functionality already available. Read more…
Jul 122009
Sort functionality in most SDK array classes is implemented with the quicksort algorithm. (For instance, in Java most of the sort functions in the java.util.Arrays class are implemented as tuned quicksorts.) Although quicksort is one of the better performing comparison sorts, all comparison sorts have algorithmic limitations on how well they can perform. There are, Read more…
Programmers often engage in vicious arguments over what constitutes the “best practice” for using a class or component provided by a software library or SDK. These sorts of arguments boil down to a disagreement over how the class is implemented. In the absence of solid information, myths and superstitions arise over how things work internally. Read more…
