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From: debray@megaron.UUCP
Newsgroups: sci.math
Subject: Re: Algorithm Description
Message-ID: <1275@megaron.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Nov-86 11:37:04 EST
Article-I.D.: megaron.1275
Posted: Mon Nov  3 11:37:04 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 4-Nov-86 08:37:18 EST
References: <146@helm.UUCP> <9700056@uiucdcsb> <1266@megaron.UUCP> <3643@columbia.UUCP>
Organization: Dept of CS, U of Arizona, Tucson
Lines: 22

zdenek@CS.COLUMBIA.EDU, commenting on an article by johnk@megaron which
decried the use of GOTOs in algorithm descriptions:

> My friend's four year old daughter is always amazed when I speak to
> her mother in Czech. No matter how hard I try, I am not able to explain
> that some people just speak different languages. She is also convinced,
> that the English is much simpler. Any suggestions?

Well, some of us think that if you're describing an algorithm for others
to understand, obfuscating your description isn't terribly helpful.
Some of us also think that GOTOs get in the way of understandability.

No doubt some people would have no trouble deciphering algorithms described
in Vax-11 assembly language ... I'm not convinced that that'd make assembly
language an acceptable algorithm _description_ language.

---
Saumya Debray
University of Arizona, Tucson

  debray@arizona.edu
  {allegra, cmcl2, ihnp4}!arizona!debray