Date: Sat, 01 Nov 2003 13:03:40 -0800 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: How do hackers drive? Message-ID: <3FA41FAC.664CC457@mindspring.com> References: <3FA29783.8060804@potentialtech.com>
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Bill Moran wrote: > When I am about to go somewhere in the car, I take a moment or two to > plan out the optimal route to get to my various destinations. I use destination proximity planning, so te last leg is provisional; for example, last night I went up to San Francisco, and there was a chemical spill that blocked the left two lanes of 280 North, near Belmont. Hearing about the spill on the radio, I was able to alter my route and avoid unreasonable delays. If I had planned every inch, then any deviation from the route would have been impossible, unless I already knew the area well (which is not always possible on things like long trips). > If there are multiple destinations, I usually do a little thinking > to determine what order to visit these destinations in order to make > optimal use of my time. Travelling salesman problem. People familiar with the problem (CS, graph theory, actual travelling salesmen, etc.) tend to do this; other people do not tend to perceive it as a problem. > This is usually modified by the desire to choose a route that includes the > fewest number of left turns possible (since right turns are cheaper than > left turns, time-wise, and complexity-wise - you can make a right turn on > red for crying out loud) > > Other programmers drive this way as well, correct? Not entirely. 8-). > The revelation is that I'm starting to understand that many non-programmer > _don't_ generally evaluate their car trips like this. I mean, I know that > most people will plan out a route when they're going on a long trip, but > this planning procedure occurs _every_ time I get in the car, even if I'm > just going to the convenience store for some chips (I have to evaluate the > fact that there are two convenience stores equaldistance from here, one is > a less complex journey, while the other has a better selection!) Most programmers do not drive this way. They compute the result once, and then use a cached copy for subsequent trips. 8-) 8-). -- Terry
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