I feel for you -- whenever I try to write about basic algorithms (sorting, etc) I always get comments that you can do it in library. Yes, obviously, but I'm teaching an algorithm, not how to use a library!
You still need to know what your library's performance is like under various conditions - large or small numbers of items, whether comparisons are cheap or expensive, how much extra memory it takes up, etc. If you don't understand the library, how are you going to be able to use it, except in relatively trivial cases?
I don't debate library usage (reuse!), but I teach mostly theory, with code snippets to present algorithms concisely.
There are many tools to solve a problem, and I want to educate on a different layer. For instance, in sorting alone there are many sorting algorithms, I don't expect someone to interrupt me with "just use quicksort!" when I'm teaching bubblesort. There are lessons to learn in both, but it's a bit presumptuous (or at least, there are less smug ways) to assume ignorance, and not intention.
anthonyb|15 years ago
kmak|15 years ago
There are many tools to solve a problem, and I want to educate on a different layer. For instance, in sorting alone there are many sorting algorithms, I don't expect someone to interrupt me with "just use quicksort!" when I'm teaching bubblesort. There are lessons to learn in both, but it's a bit presumptuous (or at least, there are less smug ways) to assume ignorance, and not intention.