Stefan Beller <sbel...@google.com> writes: > On Mon, Jul 23, 2018 at 9:41 PM Jonathan Nieder <jrnie...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Hi, >> >> Stefan Beller wrote: >> >> > As a user I wondered what the diff algorithms are about. Offer at least >> > a basic explanation on the differences of the diff algorithms. >> >> Interesting. Let's see. >> >> [...] >> > --- a/Documentation/diff-options.txt >> > +++ b/Documentation/diff-options.txt >> > @@ -94,16 +94,34 @@ diff" algorithm internally. >> > Choose a diff algorithm. The variants are as follows: >> > + >> > -- >> > -`default`, `myers`;; >> > - The basic greedy diff algorithm. Currently, this is the default. >> > `minimal`;; >> > + A diff as produced by the basic greedy algorithm described in >> >> Why this reordering? > > because Myers (below) is constructed from minimal + heuristic. > ... > So the "minimal" algorithm is the basic myers algorithm, > and the "myers" algorithm is the extended version (extended > with a heuristic to be fast in corner cases, still producing good > enough diffs).
I am not sure that is a good reason for the target readers of this document to move the default from the beginning to somewhere in the middle. For a textbook that explains different algorithms and gives overview of how they work, that order may be appropriate, though. >> > - Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible diff is >> > - produced. >> > +`default`, `myers`;; >> > + The same algorithm as `minimal`, extended with a heuristic to >> > + reduce extensive searches. Currently, this is the default. >> >> Amusing --- this means that the Myers diff is spelled as "minimal" >> instead of "myers". Yeah, I had the same thought---for an end-user documentation update, this change and the reordering does not feel like an improvement. >> I wonder if these details (about all the algorithms) should go in a >> separate Diff Algorithms section and this section could focus on >> what use cases warrant using each, referring to that section for >> details. What do you think? Good suggestion.
