How complex is complex?

[james]

thanks, paul.

if i understand correctly, questions about "about how intricate [an]
algorithm [is] (this affects its difficulty of implementation and
understanding)" are also fair and deserve fair answers.

again, if i understand correctly, this issue gets its share of
attention in computer sciences, and cs teachers discuss it in class,
passing along their own appreciation of it to their students.

- james

 

[Paul Rubin]

again, if i understand correctly, this issue gets its share of
attention in computer sciences, and cs teachers discuss it in class,
passing along their own appreciation of it to their students.

I think that question has nothing to do with CS (basically a
theoretical subject about algorithms and so forth). It's more of a
software practice issue. Of course, software practice is sometimes
taught in CS departments, but that is basically for historical
reasons.

 

[james]

thanks, paul.

again, since i don't know the context of the original question, i may
be speaking to something different than the original post; however,
questions about "about how intricate [an] algorithm [is] (this affects
its difficulty of implementation and understanding)" are indeed
discussed in introductory cs courses. and in those courses, as well as
later courses, programming assignments get point deductions when the
student programmer fails to follow good software practice. insofar as
penalties guide learning or encourage students to follow best
practices, the teaching of software practices continues throughout the
cs degree program.

if the original poster wants to email me off-list both the question
and its context, i'm willing to see if i have anything useful to
contribute.

-james