Monday, July 25, 2005

Algorithms Protect Programmers From Too Much Information. How about this for a definition of algorithm:       A set of rules that protects the programmer from too much information. When presented with too much information we have a hard time making decisions. That's a problem we face in programming all the time. Solution spaces are almost always infinite. We can do anything and that's the problem. Algorithms and their relative, patterns, reduce the solution space to something where better decisions can be made. It turns out the more choices we have the more indecisive we become. More choices causes the accumulation of opportunity costs and fill us with regret from the choices we did not make. Having more data doesn't mean we'll make better decisions either. We'll usually do worse because the more data we have means the more alternatives we can think of which means the more doubt we have which means our chances of picking the right solution is small. Asking people to make decisions between many options when their knowledge is shallow means their chances of picking the correct options are no better than chance. With experience you learn the crucial minimal set of facts you need to make the best decisions. Until you get that experience your chances of success are small. That's why books of algorithms and patterns are so valuable. If your knowledge is shallow, which most of ours is in new domains, then you need help in minimizing the number of good solution alternatives. When people say they don't like patterns I always cringe a little. If you are an expert then patterns aren't necessary because you will naturally use them as appropriate in crafting solutions. But if you are not you are forcing people to endure a blank canvas with the instruction to just paint something. Talk about brain lock. comment[] 12:50:57 PM

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