On 1/18/14, 11:07 AM, Tom Johnson wrote:
"Applied Complexity" at its best?
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/amazon-pre-ships/?ncid=tcdaily
I can think of various analogues to this in computer science. One is
profile guided optimization, where instrumentation is added to a code so
that it records where it has been. Then those records are used to guide
refinement of the compilation of the code so that it anticipates where
it is likely to go. For example, prefetching data, or setting branch
probability hints in the code. This is in some sense Amazon
prefetching their deliveries so that they will be in cache (near the
likely buyer) should the buyer actually ask for them. Some advanced
database systems (or just database administrators) do the same thing for
large systems -- looking at who tends to use certain tables, and making
sure those users are near their data.
Marcus
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