[lug] File modification

[Glenn Murray]

On Thu, 14 Mar 2002, Bear Giles wrote:
> > > P.S., anyone else interested in a citizen initiative to make
> > > teaching bubble sorts a capital offense?  Quick sorts are easier
> > > to teach...
> > 
> > Easier to teach?  Now that's the funniest thing I've heard all week.
> 
> Teaching (as opposed to first implementations)? Sure.

Are you considering it "taught" even if it can't be implemented, yet?

> Here's a shuffled deck of cards.
...(Nice quicksort metaphor snipped)
> 
> Now try doing the same thing with a bubble sort.  You can do it, of
> course, but it doesn't feel natural.  

You are a geek and that's the way you think.  Most undergraduates are
geek wannabees.  CS1 students can understand the bubble sort in about
ten minutes and implement it inside an hour.  Quicksort takes until
the next semester.  Sure, it's not all that hard to understand the
idea, but the implementation is difficult (something called
"recursion" rears its head).  That's why bubble sort is in the chapter
called "Simple Sorting" and quicksort is in the chapter called
"Advanced Sorting".

Cheers,
Glenn Murray
http://www.mines.edu/~gmurray