Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 24748
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2025/05/24 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
5/24    

2002/5/8-9 [Computer/Theory] UID:24748 Activity:high
5/7     Had this argument last week with a snobby co-worker of mine. He
        argued that the diff algorithm isn't linear. Why isn't it linear?
        \_ what a lame argument.
        \_ try reading it.  /usr/src/contrib/diff
        \_ punch him in the nose and point and laugh as blood runs down his
           face.
        \_ This is the algorithm used (according to diff's own docs):
           http://www.cs.arizona.edu/people/gene/PAPERS/diff.ps
           As you can see from the abstract, the worst-case performance
           is linear in the size of the file, but also dependent on the size
           of the minimal diff, D, with O(ND) being the actual bound. Whether
           that bound can be referred to as "linear" is a fuzzy question. Note
           also that the average-case performance in a supposedly reasonable
           model is O(N+D^2), which is "linear in N" by most people's
           definition of the term. -alexf
           \_ Fuck that.  Punch him in the nose instead.
2025/05/24 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
5/24    

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