Rosetta Code:Village Pump/Uses Algorithm Template

I have often struggled with tasks which specify that a specific algorithm be used.

If someone were paying me to write code, and they asked me to use a specific algorithm, I would typically ask them why they wanted me to use that algorithm. And then I would try and get them to agree that they should specify those reasons, as requirements, rather than the algorithm itself. This approach almost always results in a superior result.

The point here is that if you want good code, technology issues should be factored out of specifications. At worst, you have a specification which specifies an interface to some existing system.

Of course, here at rosetta code we are doing something different -- chrestomathy has an explicit goal of showing how languages relate to each other.

Nevertheless, I am wondering if we should not have a template which cautions people about this issue. An algorithm which offers superior performance in one language might sometimes be suboptimal by factors of thousands or millions in another language. So I am thinking perhaps a "uses a language" template might warn that because the algorithm has been specified it that performance should not be an issue for this task?

--Rdm 11:26, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

I would agree that such a template is desireable, but for my own reasons. Ultimately, I'd like to move away from MediaWiki to a more reorganizable system, and being able to tag examples with the presence of a template like that is easily high on my desirability list.

The other thing I'd suggest is that rather than use Template:Uses algorithm as a warning, use something like Template:Unidiomatic. Additionally, for any task that specifies "Use technique X to accomplish Y", you could generalize that to "Accomplish Y". For any "Do Y" task that exists where a "Use X to do Y" task's example exists, you can link over to that example. (You could also try transcluding an example page to both positionsm, but the hackary and difficult-to-edit nature of that is exactly the reason I want to move away from MediaWiki.) --Michael Mol 12:39, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

For a lot of tasks like Ethiopian multiplication, or Linked list, it should be clear that using a particular data structure or algorithm is the reason for the task. Efficiencies might only be accepted if they follow the task description. I, and others might occasionally point out the preferred way of doing things in a particular language. --Paddy3118 13:04, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Clearly, when an algorithm is specified the reason the task writer wanted to write that task was to see how that algorithm would be implemented. However, the point here is that such tasks may lacky utility outside of that rosetta code task page, and they may offer little insight as well. Obviously, few people would use ethiopian multiplication when most (but not all) languages implement multiplication already. However, it might be less obvious that a linked list implementation has little utility in some languages when in other languages the implementation might be useful and in other languages the facility is fundamental to an understanding of the language itself -- here the implementation does something useful (it lets the programmer work with a collection of items) but the specification can sometimes get in the way of that usefulness. But perhaps instead of a template, these tasks could be arranged hierarchically -- each "requires algorithm" or "unidiomatic" task could be required to have a parent task which asks to solve the problem without any restrictions on the algorithm. In other words, we might have a general Sort task and then underneath it would be filed all the various sort algorithm tasks. Or, we might have a simple "multiplication" task (which would mostly distinguish between infix, prefix and postfix and esoteric languages) and Ethiopian Multiplication would be filed underneath it. Or does this idea have flaws or introduce future issues? --Rdm 15:29, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, but the example problem specified to be solved by the algorithm can be abstracted into a more general task. (In Ethiopian Multiplication, the more general task would be to multiply two integers. Trivial in most languages, but so are the control flow tasks. In the case of linked lists, the more generalized form might be a mutable sequence/container.) I don't see a problem with that. It also allows languages to note on one page that, no, this isn't the way you should do it, and then point to a more appropriate solution for some part of the problem. That's a recurring gripe I've seen on this wiki and elsewhere about some of the poor-fit-but-not-impossible lang/task intersections. I've also seen people question whether or not the more-idiomatic-but-not-task-conformative examples as being on the task pages. This gives those examples somewhere more appropriate to go. --Michael Mol 15:50, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

so... do you think my hierarchical suggestion would be a good or bad way of addressing this issue? --Rdm 15:57, 22 June 2010 (UTC)