[HN Gopher] Visualizing Algorithms (2014)
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Visualizing Algorithms (2014)
Author : mrv_asura
Score : 267 points
Date : 2022-07-01 07:40 UTC (15 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (bost.ocks.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (bost.ocks.org)
| shanghaikid wrote:
| observablehq.com is awesome. We use it to build our feder
| example: https://observablehq.com/@min-tian/feder , If you want
| to understand vector embeddings, give it a try
| https://github.com/zilliztech/feder
| [deleted]
| usrbinbash wrote:
| In an ideal world, this is how algorithms and datastructures are
| taught.
|
| Beautiful work.
| antiRadical wrote:
| O__________O wrote:
| Prior HN comments:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14806488
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7949995
|
| -- and the author's HN posts/comments:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=mbostock
| barnacled wrote:
| Interesting this came out just as I rejigged and updated a
| visualisation tool I made a decade ago (!) which shows sorting
| algorithms in a really pretty rainbow colour form. I think it
| gives a good insight into how these work.
|
| https://ljs.io/rainbow/
| mrv_asura wrote:
| It gets more interesting the further you read! Superb work by the
| author.
| derbOac wrote:
| It's beautiful but in my opinion a perfect example of why a
| table of contents or something similar (not remembering the
| internet equivalent term atm) is important.
| MauranKilom wrote:
| For sampling points on a plane (or other geometries), there is an
| even better algorithm:
|
| http://extremelearning.com.au/unreasonable-effectiveness-of-...
|
| (Yes, no https - I promise the visualizations are worth it!)
| min_tian wrote:
| There is a how-reverse-image-search-works visualization. It
| explains how ivf_flat in faiss finds the approximate images in a
| huge amount of vectors. https://zilliz.com/blog/Visualize-
| Reverse-Image-Search-with-...
| adeptima wrote:
| Rock star level performance in visualization and developer
| experience
| smusamashah wrote:
| Plugging in my tool where you can plug and vis your own sorting
| algorithm. https://xosh.org/VisualizingSorts/sorting.html
| cyral wrote:
| I had a professor in college who made visualizations like this in
| PowerPoint, with each slide being a frame. He would then zoom
| through them and it would animate how various algorithms worked.
| Like this article, it was really amazing for understanding how
| they worked. I wish more courses offered visualizations like
| this, they make such a huge difference.
| a_c wrote:
| Can we add 2014 to the title?
|
| For those unaware, Mike created https://observablehq.com/ and
| d3.js
| sktrdie wrote:
| The fact that this is 8 years old makes it even more
| impressive.
| [deleted]
| walton_simons wrote:
| Speaking as a self-taught "programmer" who never got far beyond
| the rudiments (basic scripting and automation is about as far as
| I go), I find stuff like this utterly mindblowing. I'm aware that
| sorting and maze generation algorithms exist of course, but it's
| magic to me. I don't understand them at all, and seeing them
| visualised like this, in such an appealing way, is incredible.
| guessmyname wrote:
| For what is worth, programmers who went through college and/or
| university didn't learn this stuff there, so technically
| speaking we are all self-taught.
|
| Search about Depth-First Search and Breadth-First Search
| algorithms, they are very short and easy to understand.
|
| You will be able to build and solve your own mazes in no time.
| lqet wrote:
| Wait, are you saying that computer scientists don't learn
| about spanning trees, DFS, BFS, or sorting at university?
| humanwhosits wrote:
| It might be in their courses, but they doesn't mean they
| understood or retained it properly. Lots of programmers get
| by without ever reimplementing those in industry work
| deskamess wrote:
| In fact implementing them for production should be a
| fire-able offense if they have not searched for a library
| that does it.
|
| The only place in industry where this should be used is
| in interviews and candidates should never be asked to do
| it again if they pass that phase. We cannot have people
| working on stuff they interviewed with.
| bigDinosaur wrote:
| I assume they mean the methods and justifications behind
| the visualisations, since DFS etc. are absolutely taught
| everywhere.
| kragen wrote:
| Cramming the night before an exam isn't the same thing as
| learning. It doesn't change who you are and the way you
| see the world. It doesn't give you new abilities you can
| use for the rest of your life.
| JoshCole wrote:
| Cramming the night before an exam isn't the same thing as
| teaching either. If we need to accept that teaching is
| always the outcome of the worst performing learners it
| would follow that schools don't teach children to read.
| After all, illiterate people exist. That some teaching
| outcomes exist which are contrary to the curriculums
| goals doesn't mean that curriculums don't exist.
|
| There are billions of us and learning outcomes are varied
| in part because teachers vary in skill. With so many
| chances and plenty of bad teachers, it is inevitable that
| some small fraction of the population gain the perception
| that trees aren't taught in CS programs even though they
| almost always are.
| kragen wrote:
| Nobody in this thread has claimed that trees (or sorting
| or maze generation algorithms, which don't necessarily
| involve trees) aren't _taught_. Guessmyname claimed that
| "programmers who went through college and/or university
| _didn't learn_ this stuff there, " not that nobody tried
| to teach it to them. Every claim in the thread about what
| is taught has been a positive claim that some things
| _were_ taught; there have been no negative claims
| claiming that something or other _wasn 't_ taught or
| wasn't in a curriculum.
|
| Teachers can have a significant effect on the learning
| process, but learners have a much larger one. Other
| things like available learning resources and
| institutional incentives may have larger effects than
| teachers, curricula, or even (variation among) learners.
| humourl3ss wrote:
| so cool
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