From: Rick DeNatale Date: 2007-12-15T23:23:25+09:00 Subject: Re: AVL Tree On 12/14/07, James Gray wrote: > On Dec 14, 2007, at 2:37 PM, thefed wrote: > > > I have a quick question about the AVL tree. Isn't this a lot like > > the Rope quiz? When I wrote my Rope entry, I made it into a self- > > balancing tree like this (although I forsaked all heap properties). > > Some people did use AVL balancing in their ropes, but I consider the > binary tree to be a more general data structure. > > Beyond that, this quiz is far more about the build strategy than the > task itself. I hope this is taken the right way, but as I think of this quiz, I'm afraid that picking a particular data structure/algorithm like an AVL tree isn't the best way to do that. The ping-pong programming comes out of test driven design, which is a way to derive a design iteratively by refining external requirements. In this quiz, we have the goal of implementing a particular algorithm, which isn't realy the same thing at all. A more general task, such as building a lookup tree, or a balanced lookup tree would probably explore the build strategy better, perhaps with the quizmaster stepping in at times to introduce one or more new requirements, but it's too late for that. Just my opinion. -- Rick DeNatale My blog on Ruby http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/