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author | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
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committer | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
commit | e0c6872cf40896c7be36b11dcc744620f10adf1d (patch) | |
tree | 60335e10d2f4354b0674ec22d7b53f0f8abee672 /info/challenges/aro-bend/exercise.004 |
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diff --git a/info/challenges/aro-bend/exercise.004 b/info/challenges/aro-bend/exercise.004 new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..a84485d989 --- /dev/null +++ b/info/challenges/aro-bend/exercise.004 @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ +[Exercises 4,5,6,7 were originally posted together on 4 Nov 91] +Date: Mon 4 Nov 91 16:42:44-EST +From: Michael Downes <MJD@MATH.AMS.COM> +Subject: Around the bend #2 +To: info-tex@shsu.edu + +The statement of purpose in `Around the bend' #1 said something about +finding the `best solution', but failed to define what `best' should +mean when comparing pieces of TeX code. I'll start by throwing out +a few ideas. + +Simplicity. A good solution gets hold of the essential idea of the +problem and attacks it directly, rather than beating around the bush +and resorting to separate clauses to handle troublesome subcases. + +Economy. if two solutions compare equal in other respects, then the +better solution is the one that uses less of TeX's resources (main +memory, hash table, string pool, and so forth). Therefore I +(immodestly) say that my solution to Exercise 1 was ever so slightly +better than the other two given, because it avoided introducing any +auxiliary macros that were not included in the original statement of +the problem. + +Robustness. If a solution only works under limited friendly +circumstances, and otherwise blows up with an error message, that's not +good. My solution to Exercise 2 was flawed in this respect, since D.A. +found a test case that caused it to go wrong. + +*********************************************************************** +*** Exercise 4 (essay): + +What should `best' mean when comparing solutions to an `Around the +bend' exercise? What qualities of a good solution are most important? +Why? How can they be objectively measured? (Or can they?) On the +negative side, what qualities indicate an inferior solution? + +*********************************************************************** + +[Exercise 5 moved to exercise.005] +[Exercise 6 moved to exercise.006] +[Exercise 7 moved to exercise.007] + +Send answers to: + +Michael Downes mjd@math.ams.com (Internet) + +A summary will be posted Tuesday, December 4, 1991. However, because of +the difficulty of E7, I will probably procrastinate on posting the +solutions for that exercise until the first or second week of December. + +Table of special characters, to verify accurate transmission: + +ASCII 33: ! exclamation point ASCII 60: < left elbow +ASCII 34: " double quote ASCII 61: = equals sign +ASCII 35: # number/pound sign ASCII 62: > right elbow +ASCII 36: $ dollar sign ASCII 63: ? question mark +ASCII 37: % percent sign ASCII 64: @ at sign +ASCII 38: & ampersand ASCII 91: [ left square bracket +ASCII 39: ' right quote/apostrophe ASCII 92: \ backslash +ASCII 40: ( left parenthesis ASCII 93: ] right square bracket +ASCII 41: ) right parenthesis ASCII 94: ^ circumflex/hat/caret +ASCII 42: * star/asterisk ASCII 95: _ underscore +ASCII 45: - hyphen ASCII 96: ` left quote +ASCII 47: / slash ASCII 123: { left curly brace +ASCII 58: : colon ASCII 124: | vert bar +ASCII 59: ; semicolon ASCII 125: } right curly brace + ASCII 126: ~ tilde + |