Schlemiel the Painter's algorithm: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:21, 26 January 2011

Revision as of 20:25, 26 January 2011

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{{Orphan|date=February 2009}}

{{Distinguish|Painter's algorithm}}

In software development, a '''Schlemiel the Painter's algorithm''' (or '''Schlemiel the Painter algorithm''')<!-- Spolsky uses it both with and without the possessive 's --> is a methodology that is inefficient because the programmer has overlooked some fundamental issues at the very [[High and low level|lowest levels]] of [[software design]]. The term was coined in 2001 by software engineer and essayist [[Joel Spolsky]].

The algorithm should not to be confused with the [[Painter's algorithm]] of image compositing, as the two are completely unrelated.

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Spolsky condemned such inefficiencies as typical for programmers who had not been taught basic programming techniques before they began programming using higher level languages: "Generations of graduates are descending on us and creating ''Shlemiel The Painter algorithms'' right and left and they don't even realize it, since they fundamentally have no idea that strings are, at a very deep level, difficult."<ref name="basics" />

<ref>{{citation|last=Atwood|first=Jeff|date=September 19, 2007|title=Everything Is Fast For Small n|url=http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000957.html|publisher=codinghorror.com}}.</ref> Spolsky's essays have been cited as examples of good writing "about their insular world in a way that wins the respect of their colleagues and the attention of outsiders."<ref>{{citation|last=Rosenberg|first=Scott|title=The Shlemiel way of software|date=December 9, 2004|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2004/12/09/spolsky/|publisher=salon.com}}.</ref>

Coined in 2001, the term has since become part of the vernacular to denote inefficient programming techniques.^''cf.''<ref>{{citation|title=Programming interview questions|last=Cox|first=William|date=November 19, 2005|url=http://discuss.techinterview.org/default.asp?interview.11.246942.7|publisher=techinterview.org}}.</ref>

<ref>{{citation|last=Atwood|first=Jeff|date=September 19, 2007|title=Everything Is Fast For Small n|url=http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000957.html|publisher=codinghorror.com}}.</ref> Spolsky's essays have been cited as examples of good writing "about their insular world in a way that wins the respect of their colleagues and the attention of outsiders."<ref>{{citation|last=Rosenberg|first=Scott|title=The Shlemiel way of software|date=December 9, 2004|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2004/12/09/spolsky/|publisher=salon.com}}.</ref>

==Spolsky's example==