jjw@palladium.UUCP (John J. Wallace) (07/27/88)
A few years back, a professional computer journal published an article full of mathematical one-liners, such as "to round down to a power of two, do this," "to find the first one, do this," etc. I think this was Communications of the ACM around 1985, but I'm not sure, and I can't find it in *my* archives. Any help? When I find this, I will post it on my wall! -- John J. Wallace Epoch Systems, Inc., 313 Boston Post Rd. West, Marlborough, MA 01752 ...!linus!alliant!palladium!jjw -or- ...!harvard!cfisun!palladium!jjw (617)481-3717
baum@Apple.COM (Allen J. Baum) (07/29/88)
[] >In article <547@palladium.UUCP> jjw@palladium.UUCP (John J. Wallace) writes: >A few years back, a professional computer journal published an article >full of mathematical one-liners, such as "to round down to a power of >two, do this," "to find the first one, do this," etc. I think this was >Communications of the ACM around 1985, but I'm not sure, and I can't >find it in *my* archives. > >Any help? When I find this, I will post it on my wall! This sounds a lot like the MIT AI Labs "Hakmem" memo. I used to have a copy, but I think it was borrowed. Out of print, too, I believe. Full of neat tricks. -- {decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4}!nsc!apple!baum (408)973-3385
davy@ea.ecn.purdue.edu (Dave Curry) (07/29/88)
In article <14878@apple.Apple.COM> baum@apple.UUCP (Allen Baum) writes: >[] >>In article <547@palladium.UUCP> jjw@palladium.UUCP (John J. Wallace) writes: >>A few years back, a professional computer journal published an article >>full of mathematical one-liners, such as "to round down to a power of >>two, do this," "to find the first one, do this," etc. [etc...] > This sounds a lot like the MIT AI Labs "Hakmem" memo. I used to have a >copy, but I think it was borrowed. Out of print, too, I believe. Full of >neat tricks. HAKMEM is not out of print; at least it wasn't last year when I ordered my copy. Send $3.50 to: Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Massachussetts Institute of Technology 545 Technology Square Cambridge, MA 02139 Ask for a copy of AI Memo #239, "HAKMEM". There's all sorts of useful and interesting stuff in here, and also lots of relatively useless (outdated) stuff. But it makes fascinating reading anyway. --Dave Curry
bturner@hpcvlx.HP.COM (Bill Turner) (07/30/88)
One issue of the Communications of the ACM (I can't remember which one, it was about 1-2 years back) had a number of "rules of thumb" for CS. It included some that I still remember (particularly two from Grace Hopper: pi seconds is a nanocentury, and a nanosecond is about 1 foot [distance light travels]) (I'd be more helpful if I had my CACM's unboxed...) --Bill Turner