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I think there are a lot of web devs here who never do anything more complicated than process data in a loop, and complexity analysis can be accomplished by coun

by klyrs 3y ago

I think there are a lot of web devs here who never do anything more complicated than process data in a loop, and complexity analysis can be accomplished by counting indentation levels. When this viewpoint is applied with a wide brush to all programmers or the whole practice of programming, it results in some pretty spicy takes. On the other hand, recursion extremely expensive in some languages and Python has a notorious limit that forces library writers to roll their own stack. So despite the above, I'm actually in the anti-recursion camp.

jameshart 3y ago
There are developers in every field who only work on trivial problems. I bet there are scientific programmers and quants and ML developers who never need more than loops in their work. Loops are powerful tools. But it does you no credit to dismiss ‘web devs’ as more likely to be doing that kind of work. You know the web is full of hierarchies, right? Domain names, the DOM, JSON structures, file directories? And ‘web devs’ build complicated sites with navigation hierarchies and taxonomies and comment threads and team based permissions and complex data visualizations - because web devs build applications that model real world businesses and data all the time, and those things are complex and hierarchical and fractal. Web devs have plenty of uses for recursion. Don’t be dismissive.
- Joel_Mckay 3y ago
  ML research can be super boring and hard to actually generalize/replicate, but recently became a lucrative field. All commercial projects eventually become "work" when they are no longer fun, and you wouldn't show up unless paid. You also can realize your NDA does not expire on some IP you wrote 15 years ago. lol =)
- klyrs 3y ago
  I spent several years in the web dev trenches; my opinion is not an out of hand dismissal.
- DiggyJohnson 3y ago
  Are you arguing against the notion that some branches of programming are going to have to handle complex data structures more often than others? It seems like you're just trying to smooth over a relatively inoffensive point. I don't think most web developers would disagree with GP. You're the one being rude and dismissive of the person you're replying to, frankly.

by klyrs 3y ago

jameshart 3y ago

There are developers in every field who only work on trivial problems. I bet there are scientific programmers and quants and ML developers who never need more than loops in their work. Loops are powerful tools. But it does you no credit to dismiss ‘web devs’ as more likely to be doing that kind of work. You know the web is full of hierarchies, right? Domain names, the DOM, JSON structures, file directories? And ‘web devs’ build complicated sites with navigation hierarchies and taxonomies and comment threads and team based permissions and complex data visualizations - because web devs build applications that model real world businesses and data all the time, and those things are complex and hierarchical and fractal. Web devs have plenty of uses for recursion. Don’t be dismissive.

Joel_Mckay 3y ago
ML research can be super boring and hard to actually generalize/replicate, but recently became a lucrative field. All commercial projects eventually become "work" when they are no longer fun, and you wouldn't show up unless paid. You also can realize your NDA does not expire on some IP you wrote 15 years ago. lol =)
klyrs 3y ago
I spent several years in the web dev trenches; my opinion is not an out of hand dismissal.
DiggyJohnson 3y ago
Are you arguing against the notion that some branches of programming are going to have to handle complex data structures more often than others? It seems like you're just trying to smooth over a relatively inoffensive point. I don't think most web developers would disagree with GP. You're the one being rude and dismissive of the person you're replying to, frankly.