Size is objectively the number of characters of the program, while complexity (in this context) is the subjective and time-dependent difficulty of understanding the program. So a short J-program can be more complex than a nice long explanation in English.
Theoretically the (Kolmogorov) complexity of a problem is the size of the smallest program that solves the problem, as far as I understand. R.E.Boss made an interesting speed competition, but the results depend not only on the programs tested but also on the test data. The judging between competing programs may ultimately be a matter of taste. --- Den ons 28/4/10 skrev Oleg Kobchenko <[email protected]>: > Fra: Oleg Kobchenko <[email protected]> > Emne: Re: [Jprogramming] Polygon containment > Til: "Programming forum" <[email protected]> > Dato: onsdag 28. april 2010 05.48 > As we all know here, size and > complexity are two different measures. > > > > On Apr 27, 2010, at 8:08 AM, Bo Jacoby <[email protected]> > wrote: > > I agree that correctness comes first. > > When a program performs better in some specific cases and > worse in other cases then the concept of performance is not > well defined. > > Simplicity is necessary for reliability. Big programs have > bugs. > > --- Den tirs 27/4/10 skrev R.E. Boss <[email protected]>: > > Fra: R.E. Boss <[email protected]> > Emne: Re: [Jprogramming] Polygon containment > Til: "'Programming forum'" <[email protected]> > Dato: tirsdag 27. april 2010 13.45 > > > Van: [email protected] > [mailto:programming- > [email protected]] > Namens Bo Jacoby > Onderwerp: Re: [Jprogramming] Polygon containment > > I think that one should usually resist the temptation > to introduce > additional complexity into a program in order to speed > it up a little in > special cases, because it may turn out to be slower in > some other cases, > which is bad, and simplicity is lost, which is worse, > and also bugs may be > introduced, which is very bad. > (...) > > > My priorities differ: correctness comes first, then > performance, then > elegance. > > Efficiency improvements only count from a factor 2 upwards > (Hui's rule). So > "to speed it up a little in special cases" is too > dismissive. > > > R.E. Boss > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
