On 8/31/06, Roger Hui <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
However, comb takes time and space linear in the size of the result whereas comb1 takes exponential. Yet comb1 would have been preferred according to the "number of characters" criterion.
Switching to a words criteria would not affect that. Any one dimensional valuation will have the same kind of deficits. ... unless there is a robust "market" of intelligent "bidders" which backs a "price" valuation. Even so some "bidders" will have variations in "preferences". And most "markets" have "externalities" which are not fully "costed". A measure based on actual storage costs and easily evaluated has some constancy which supports a broad valuation of solution classes. In a sense the character metric is one of the broadest and most convenient. Metrics based on performance are either inexact (eg big O) or have constricting architectural assumptions (counting assembly language ops), and can be hard to evaluate. Characters are simple and broadly understood. ~greg ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
