- The CookBook challenge

From: Douglas G. Danforth <"Douglas>
Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 19:54:09 -0400

----boundary-LibPST-iamunique-967911703_-_-
Content-type: text/plain

Folks,

A comment about the CookBook but first a story:

I did my graduate work within an Institute at Stanford that was a leader
in Computer Assisted Instruction. We did work in Logic (Pat Suppes),
Proof Theory, Simper (teaching assembly language), Reading (Richard
Atkinson), and quite a few other disciplines.

One of those other was the Integral Calculus (Ralph Kimble). Ralph
wrote a very nice system that would grade students relative to the
fewest steps necessary to obtain the closed form solution of an
integral. If a student found a solution with fewer steps than the
current best then the system adopted that student's solution. Hence the
system learned and continuously improved.

The Challenge:
I suggest that the CookBook use a similar strategy. The current best
solution (answer) to a problem (such as the question Helmut posed about
opening files with unknown extensions) is stated in the CookBook but
anyone with a better solution is requested to submit it (with credit
given) [I believe Donald Knuth offers a reward for anyone who can find
bugs in his algorithms (The Art of Computer Programming)].

The CookBook can even have a section with problems waiting to be solved.

-Doug

--- BlackBox
--- send subject HELP or UNSUBSCRIBE to blackbox{([at]})nowhere.xy



----boundary-LibPST-iamunique-967911703_-_-
Content-type: application/rtf
Content-transfer-encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="rtf-body.rtf"
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==


----boundary-LibPST-iamunique-967911703_-_---
Received on Fri Apr 08 2005 - 01:54:09 UTC