I sent this to a bunch of my programmer-type friends recently<\/p>\n
It’s the algorithm, stupid.<\/p>\n
If you’ve ever taken a computer programming course, you know what a binary tree is…. and dreaded implementing it.<\/p>\n
I present to you what looks like the obituary to binary trees:
\n(and check out the link, the paper is very readable)<\/p>\nSkip Lists vs B-Trees (added: 8-May-2003)
\nhttp:\/\/www.enhyper.com\/content\/skiplist.pdf
\nSkip lists are a relatively new algorithm introduced in 1987 by William Pugh. Their simplicity and performance makes them an attractive alternative to the well known Btree algorithms. Testing reveals a dramatic speed advantage for skip lists when compared to B-trees. In addition to the basic speed advantage of the algorithm, skip lists also show an additional speed advantage for large data sets.<\/p>\nIf this article doesn’t impress you, then float it to a programmer friend of yours and you’ll likely put a smile on his face (and another tool in his toolchest)<\/p>\n
Happy Day,
\nlee<\/p>\n—-and now your random quote—-
\nMy friend Katherine W was looking for comments on a user manual that she was writing. She sent it out to one co-worker and asked for comments back a couple days later. When returning it, he said quite confidently, “Oh yes, I read the whole thing.. And it looks just fine.” Then she pointed out the several spots where it read, “When you read this, come see me and I’ll give you 5 dollars.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n