University of Virginia, Department of Computer Science
CS200: Computer Science, Spring 2004

Notes: Monday 16 February 2004
Schedule

Notes
On Grounds Sorting

(define (insertl lst f stopval) 
   (if (null? lst) 
       stopval 
       (f (car lst) (insertl (cdr lst) f stopval)))) 

(define (find-best-hand lst)
  (if (null? lst)



(define (sort cf lst)
  (if (null? lst) lst
      (let ((best (find-best cf lst)))
        (cons best (sort cf (delete lst best))))))

;;; Evaluates to the list parameter with exactly one instance of el removed.
(define (delete lst el)
  (if (null? lst) (error "Element not found!")
      (if (eq? (car lst) el)
          (cdr lst)
          (cons (car lst) (delete (cdr lst) el)))))
Measuring Work

How do computer scientists measure work?








When are orders of growth a better way to measure work than clock time?








When is clock time a better way to measure work than orders of growth?








If our simple sort has expected work Θ(n2) and it takes 5 seconds to sort a list of length 1000, how long would you expect it to take to sort a list of length 4000?




Assuming Moore's Law continues to hold (computing power per dollar doubles every 18 months), if the longest list we can use simple sort to sort today is length 6000, how long a list should we be able to sort using the same code on the new lab machines in 2008?






The progress of invention and discovery of improvement and application is so rapid,
unceasing and continuous, that it would require a volume many times the size of the present,
to record, even in a summary fashion, all that transpires of scientific interest in the course of a single year.

David A. Wells, Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1852. (Quoted in Neil DeGrasse Tyson's essay.)

cs200-staff@cs.virginia.edu
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