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You should think of the “programming” in dynamic programming the same way you think of in linear programming, integer programming, and constraint programming.
by LPisGood 1y ago
You should think of the “programming” in dynamic programming the same way you think of in linear programming, integer programming, and constraint programming.
Indeed even in layman’s terms, thinking of it as in television programming is more accurate than thinking it is related to computer programming (as is mentioned in TFA)
- TeMPOraL 1y ago> linear programming, integer programming, and constraint programming Can't think of a universe in which you'd learn about these things before learning "computer programming".
- tgma 1y agoThere was a universe before digital computers were popular or a thing at all. Computing predates computers.
- Thorrez 1y agoBefore digital computers existed, there were still computers. They were people. A baker is a person who bakes. A computer was a person who computes (computing mathematical results).
- tgma 1y agoSure, that's why I had computers italicized to indicate the specific modern definition, not everything that computes.
- LPisGood 1y agoI meant that in particular you should _not_ think of the “programming” part of “dynamic programming” in the sense of computer programming
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- opnac 1y agoIn the UK at A-level (age 16-18) you may still be taught linear and dynamic programming before ever touching a line of code! (Indeed, that was the same for me!)
- TeMPOraL 1y agoDid your school used the specific terms "linear programming" and "dynamic programming" to refer to those topics? My original comment didn't phrase this clearly, but I was thinking less about techniques themselves, and more about encountering them under those specific labels. As an analogy, it's not unusual to learn a good chunk of calculus before learning that "calculus" is a thing they're part of - for example, by having an over-eager physics teacher who teaches you some of it so we can understand physics material deeper, but without ever mentioning the branch of math we're now using.
- mr_toad 1y agoI know two people who are experts in linear programming who have never written a single line of code.
- agumonkey 1y agoI always find funny how many meanings "programming" has.
- thaumasiotes 1y agoTelevision programming isn't a separate meaning from computer programming. Programming means creating a program. The program, whether you're talking about a computer, a television channel, or a live staged performance, is a list of what's going to happen in what order.
- agumonkey 1y agoThat's what I was hinting to. Pre mechanical programs were 'prewritten' sequences. Mostly linear, like a (literature) script. Musical score would fit that definition too. Then you can have slightly more complicated structures like dags and data flow, still linear in a way. When you add state,loops, feedback it gets interesting though.
- mort96 1y agoI think of "programming" in "dynamic programming" the exact same way I think of it in "linear programming", "integer programming" and "constraint programming": it's probably some kind of software development that some computer scientists came up once and that I don't need to think about, because my normal programming has worked out pretty well so far (Except, well, I guess I understand what "dynamic programming" is more than I understand what the other forms of programming you mention is; "dynamic programming" is solving certain classes of recursive problems by using arrays, sometimes nested arrays, to avoid re-computation, and somehow that's supposed to be more "dynamic" than not doing that)