Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!uunet!mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!turing!ncmh
From: Chris.Holt@newcastle.ac.uk (Chris Holt)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: ALGORITHMS ANYBODY?
Message-ID: <1990Aug22.182415.27036@newcastle.ac.uk>
Date: 22 Aug 90 18:24:15 GMT
References: <90Aug22.090345edt.9450@neat.cs.toronto.edu>
Sender: news@newcastle.ac.uk
Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU.
Lines: 26

In article <90Aug22.090345edt.9450@neat.cs.toronto.edu>
 mgreen@cs.toronto.edu (Marc Green) writes:
>
>I've decided to center the course of the view that computer languages
>are a way to formally specify algorithms. I'd like the students to
>program the same 3-4 algorithms in several languages, to get a feel
>for the differences.
>
>I am now asking for suggestions on good algorithms/problems to have
>them implement. I have in mind algorithms like bubble-sort,
>merge-sort, tree-search and problems like the Tower of Hanoi. Any
>others? (My students are not computer jocks and can't handle anything
>too esoteric.)

DON'T use bubble sort; once people learn it, they use it for the
rest of their lives, it seems like, and it takes ages to unteach.

You might try a pattern matching (string search) algorithm (it's got a
simple specification); and the old matrix multiplication is a
good one to start arrays with.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Chris.Holt@newcastle.ac.uk      Computing Lab, U of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "Extreme bounds are most appropriate for extreme kangaroos..."