Problem solving encompasses a number of techniques known as algorithms, heuristics, root cause analysis, etc.
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4answers
406 views
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How to save during real-time collaboration
I want multiple users to edit same document. Problem I'm facing is when a new user joins, he might see an outdated document. How do I make sure that new users get most recent changes?
Some solutions ...
-3
votes
1answer
199 views
Any tips in tackling extremely complex problems like the Hanoi Tower problem? [closed]
People often give me the "divide and conquer" tip, but I think for some problems it's not nearly enough. The problem with such a complex problem as the Hanoi Tower problem is that you can't even ...
1
vote
1answer
107 views
Idea of the binary search main theorem
This link really provided some insights into the idea that binary search implications into the optimization problems by giving the main theorem. I am not really confident that I get the idea of the ...
12
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8answers
979 views
In an interview, is it better to code a brute-force solution to a tough question, or to spend the interview examining the question carefully?
Sometimes interview questions are hard, whether the interviewer intends them to be, or not. It can come down to a choice of whether to use the limited interview time to code up an ugly, inefficient, ...
0
votes
2answers
150 views
Help to simplify/model complex decision making (if, then, else scenarios)
I find my self in a situation, where I need to program a service, that can determine if two object in a huge database are the same. For simplicity, let's say it's used cars, and I want to determine if ...
6
votes
3answers
293 views
Should I fix small issues or let them go? [closed]
I ran into the following issue where a keyboard shortcut I was used to was no longer working in Ubuntu. That's just an example. For programming, this kinds of thing happens a lot, but it also happens ...
0
votes
1answer
164 views
Sublinear Extra Space MergeSort
I am reviewing basic algorithms from a book called Algorithms by Robert Sedgewick, and I came across a problem in MergeSort that I am, sad to say, having difficulty solving. The problem is below:
...
16
votes
3answers
915 views
How to avoid jumping to a solution when under pressure?
When under a particularly strict programming deadline (like an hour), if I panic at all, my tendency is to jump into coding without a real plan and hope I figure it out as I go along. Given enough ...
6
votes
4answers
423 views
algorithm for project euler problem no 18
Problem number 18 from Project Euler's site is as follows:
By starting at the top of the triangle below and moving to adjacent numbers on the row below, the maximum total from top to bottom is 23.
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vote
3answers
939 views
Calculating 3d rotation around random axis
This is actually a solved problem, but I want to understand why my original method didn't work (hoping someone with more knowledge can explain).
(Keep in mind, I've not very experienced in 3d ...
2
votes
1answer
225 views
looking for a good programming problem solving tool [closed]
Years ago when I was in school my computer science department used a website that had many different problem solving questions typically used in computer programming. They were ordered in difficulty ...
5
votes
3answers
406 views
Steps to create a solution for a problem
I am a trainee. According to my teacher to solve a problem we should go through following steps:
Create Algorithm (optional)
Create a Datatable: By analyzing the problem, create main concepts in ...
12
votes
6answers
400 views
When to prefer a generalized solution over solving specific cases
In programming we're often faced with a choice: cover each conceivable use case individually, or solve the general problem:
Its obvious that solving the immediate problem is faster, however ...
3
votes
2answers
151 views
How to find an error in a tcp server application for which there is no source code
I have a c++/cli tcp client application sending a data in a specific format like L,20100930033425093,-5.929958,13.164021
to a main application on port 9000.The main application is actually done by the ...
8
votes
6answers
733 views
How do the algorithms to solve problems encountered in interviews translate into real world solutions?
I have recently finished an undergraduate course in computer science and I am looking for a job. During the search I encountered several interesting (and tough) problems that needed clever algorithms ...
1
vote
1answer
173 views
What is the best way to maintain our programming experiences? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
how do you remember programming related stuff?
During my work experiences, I always met many kind of blocking problems with different technologies. When I remember the ...
1
vote
2answers
864 views
Flowchart for solving programming problems
I noticed that every developer implements a somewhat different flowchart for solving programming problems.
By flowchart I mean a defined system of techniques that the developer goes through in a ...
3
votes
5answers
251 views
How can a developer evaluate the effectiveness of his workflow?
This question has been on my mind for probably 10 years. Ever since I've started programming for a living. And I've seen multiple discussions about good fit, distractions, being in the zone, etc. But ...
9
votes
6answers
584 views
Is it important for a solution to be an efficient one?
I solve many problems, mostly from Top Coder. I will get answers for many, but most times I end up with an inefficient solution.
In real-world implementations - does it really matter that a solution ...
0
votes
2answers
454 views
Good collection of short code samples in different languages to solve programming problems? [duplicate]
I am interested in learning some new programming languages and looking for the collection of short solutions for programming problems provided in different languages. The optimal format would be:
...
3
votes
6answers
512 views
Best way to get programmers to ask for help when they get stuck
What is the best way to ensure that programmers ask for help when they get stuck on a problem, rather than spending too much time trying to figure something out when they've hit a wall?
I'm ...
18
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10answers
3k views
Is “White-Board-Coding” inappropriate during interviews?
This is a somewhat subjective quesiton but I'd love to hear feedback/opinions from either interviewers/interviewees on the topic.
We split our technical part into 4 parts. Write Code, Read & ...
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votes
2answers
264 views
Why are assumptions important when defining a puzzle?
in this question OP has presented a site where some puzzle are available. He described the problem about solving them. I was curious is that really so problematic. The first one was really easy, so I ...
5
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4answers
328 views
How to effectively (but minimally) *simulate* a distributed computing environment?
I am doing some personal research on Byzantine Faults. I am trying out algorithms from various research papers which present algorithms for consensus in distributed systems like this one. For this i ...
2
votes
4answers
240 views
How can I find the root of confusing problems?
Several times after posting over at Stack Overflow, I have found that the problem I have is somewhat specific, and may have issues rooted elsewhere in my code. These are very difficult to solve with a ...
2
votes
7answers
1k views
How to pay more attention to detail as a developer?
Are there any resources for paying more attention to detail as a software developer? (Especially edge cases, or small mistakes in code, details in the problem description, ramifications for certain ...
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11answers
2k views
Is thinking out loud during an interview really the best strategy?
In another question I asked recently about best practices for whiteboarding, there was general consensus that thinking out loud while coming up with the answer was the best strategy.
Indeed, long ...
4
votes
2answers
396 views
Improving analysis skills
I am a software engineer with a couple of years of experience. However I feel my problem solving skills need to be improved. To put in crude terms given facts A and fact B I have difficulty in ...
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vote
3answers
508 views
Importance of algorithms in a telephonic interview
I had taken a telephonic interview and the interviewer has given some problem for which I was supposed to give him the algorithm. Since its was a telephonic interview and I had no paper or pen, so I ...
4
votes
2answers
922 views
How do you improve your problem solving skills? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How does one improve one's problem-solving ability?
I'm focusing on becoming a better developer and one area I'd like to focus on is improving my problem solving ...
4
votes
5answers
640 views
How can one find software development work that involves directly the final end user?
I've worked in software development for 15 years and, while there have been signficant personal achievements and a lot of experience, I've always felt detached from the man/woman-on-the-street, the ...
1
vote
6answers
1k views
Steps to solve or approach towards a solution
Please share your experience about how do you approach towards a solution or solve a problem. Include description about what ever tools you use,sources you follow,algorithms you choose etc.
It would ...
7
votes
7answers
955 views
Best way to break down overwhelming code into mangeable chunks?
I'm continually becoming overwhelmed by large projects, once they reach a certain level of complexity. Once I reach a certain point in a project, my progress slows to a crawl and I find myself ...
1
vote
11answers
480 views
Writing code vs Figuring out the answer to a problem?
Why is writing code when you encounter a tricky problem considered "bad" programming practice? And why is thinking a problem completely through on paper or in your head before you write code "good" ? ...
12
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10answers
566 views
Why does not thinking about a bug sometimes help you solve it?
Yesterday I spent a good part of the afternoon trying to fix a bug, which I thought to be trivial. I was going around in circles, not having a clue what was wrong. Rewriting large parts of the code. ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
Where one can find problem sets from Facebook hacker cup?
I want to tackle them on my free time, BUt I was unable to compete and I really enjoy a good crack from time to time? Can anyone post a link or maybe even the questions themselves? Please no ...
6
votes
4answers
534 views
What are the great unsolved challenges (or recent promising breakthroughs) of enterprise programming?
My experience with programming came from a field, computational linguistics, where there LOTS of unsolved problems (computationally modeling natural language, or having effective statistical ...
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votes
10answers
3k views
How would you refactor nested IF Statements?
I was cruising around the programming blogosphere when I happened upon this post about GOTO's:
http://giuliozambon.blogspot.com/2010/12/programmers-tabu.html
Here the writer talks about how "one ...
40
votes
15answers
3k views
Dealing with frustration when things don't work [on hold]
You ever try to implement something simple but for some strange reason it doesn't work.
So you try a possible solution but then something else doesn't work. You keep trying different workarounds but ...
23
votes
10answers
767 views
Where do you draw the line for your perfectionism?
Perfectionism may be good and bad when programming.
When and where do you draw the line when you are problem solving?
When do you decide when a solution is overkill, too general or simply too ...
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vote
1answer
132 views
How would you tackle a pattern-finding program?
Just to be clear, I don't think this should be question better suited for stackoverflow.com simply because there's not a single answer but a wide range of possible solutions, making this question far ...
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votes
25answers
14k views
How can I improve my problem-solving ability?
Everyone says the same thing: "a real programmer knows how to handle real problems." But they forget how they learned this ability or where: it's not taught in schools.
What can I do to improve my ...
27
votes
9answers
690 views
Abstraction: The War between solving the problem and a general solution [closed]
As a programmer, I find myself in the dilemma where I want make my program as abstract and as general as possible.
Doing so usually would allow me to reuse my code and have a more general solution ...
12
votes
10answers
727 views
Should I be worried if I solve a lot of my problems the same way?
I really enjoy programming games and puzzle creators/games. I find myself engineering a lot of these problems the same way and ultimately using similar technique to program them that I'm really ...
35
votes
12answers
3k views
What programming language generates fewest hard-to-find bugs? [closed]
What language, in your opinion, allows the average programmer to output features with the least amount of hard-to-find bugs? This is of course, a very broad question, and I'm interested in very broad ...
5
votes
5answers
639 views
What to do when you're faced with a problem that you can't solve quickly?
I'm a beginner learning Java and after reading the docs I'm trying to solve some of the problems at codingbat.com. Some I managed to solve pretty quickly in a matter of seconds but some not quite. The ...
2
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3answers
308 views
shadow simulation from buildings
is it possible to calculate shadow areas of buildings or simulate shadows of buildings in a city, using the heights of these buildings and the sun angle and azimuth? the basic light tracing concept ...
16
votes
14answers
718 views
When do you get your best ideas? [closed]
Are there certain activities that provide inspiration at unexpected times?
One that I've noticed is when I'm mowing the lawn or shoveling snow - living in Minnesota it seems I'm always doing one or ...
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9answers
902 views
Algorithm development in jobs
I have a mathematics background but also consider career in some form of software development. In particular I'm interested in finding out what sort of industries are most likely to have more ...
5
votes
9answers
423 views
What tricks/tips do you use for innovation? [closed]
I am looking for a few ideas on how to change a highly conventional work culture to be more innovated in their approached to problem solving. I've come across this article and am looking for more ...
