We're in 99.9999% full agreement. The problem I solved with a heap really is the real problem I needed to solve. Long ago when I was relatively knowledgeable

We're in 99.9999% full agreement. The problem I solved with a heap really is the real problem I needed to solve. Long ago when I was relatively knowledgeable in computing, two profs trying to teach a course in computing (I'd been teaching such at Georgetown) asked me about what lessons I would emphasize. I said "A programmer stands between the machine and the real problem, understands the real problem, for a solution finds some appropriate structure, say, divides the work into relatively independent pieces each of which is relatively easy to understand, tries to make the structure relatively robust to likely changes in the real problem, and then programs that." That view was many years ago. I was and I am a big fan of looking at the real problem.