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You're not wrong, but that one time you see a place for a new algorithm for a specialized problem can make a big enough difference to be worth it. If nobody in
by abecedarius 8y ago
You're not wrong, but that one time you see a place for a new algorithm for a specialized problem can make a big enough difference to be worth it. If nobody in your group has the range, it's not likely you'll know when it'll pay to call in the research department with the PhDs exactly when they're needed, either. There's no bright line between coding and invention.
More mundanely, when I was starting out at a small shop (I'm around your age) my coworkers hadn't mastered undergrad algorithms, and it made a significant difference in what we could do.
It's unfortunate that attempting to test for this seems to have encouraged too much memorizing of known tricks relative to better mastery of principles.
- nnd 8y agoHow would you go about mastering the principles rather than practicing random algorithmic challenges?
- abecedarius 8y agoUdi Manber's Algorithms: A Creative Approach looks like a promising book to work through. There are lots of great resources that didn't exist when I was an undergrad. But how do you approach them? What prompted my comment was all the times people comment online about "memorizing algorithms" to prepare for interviews -- learning about algorithms will include a lot of them sticking in memory, yes, but approaching it as cramming a textbook into memory the way students cram for a final exam seems... disappointing.