[Haskell-cafe] list comprehansion performance has hug different

ok at cs.otago.ac.nz ok at cs.otago.ac.nz
Wed Jan 30 09:12:14 CET 2013


> The difference is what's called "dynamic programming" (an utterly
> non-intuitive and un-insightful name).

It was meant to be.  The name was chosen to be truthful while
not revealing too much to a US Secretary of Defense of whom
Bellman wrote:
 "His face would suffuse, he would turn red, and he would get
  violent if people used the term, research, in his presence.
  You can imagine how he felt, then, about the term, mathematical."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_programming)

Every time I try to imagine this guy having Haskell explained to
him my brain refuses to co-operate.

The word "programming" here is used in the same sense as in
"linear programming" and "quadratic programming", that is,
"optimisation".  "Dynamic" does hint at the multistage decision
process idea involved.






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