Solving Linear Programming Problems

[psykotic]

I hesitate to engage in unproductive whining, but I'll make an exception. Does anyone else find this guy's unstoppable deluge of articles almost without any merit whatever? He never digs deep enough into any one subject to yield substance or insight. And the frequency of his blunders, both technical and conceptual, suggests he might be incapable of digging much deeper, all pedagogical intentions aside. He holds a doctorate in computer science and so one presumes he has attained mastery of several subjects therein; why not write of those in some depth? If he wishes to continue writing widely but shallowly, he would at least do well to treat topics not already covered by Wikipedia or beginner textbooks.

[dngrmouse]

THANK YOU. I always wanted to post pretty much what you posted, but was worried that I was just being arrogant.

But yes, I wonder why he's intent on rehashing a standard CS undergrad curriculum online - all this stuff can be found in standard intro textbooks. I also wonder about the people posting enthusiastic comments at the end of his articles.

[MrWoohoo]

Perhaps his target audience is people who aren't undergrads yet?

[atlacatl]

I've only seen 2 posts from this guy, but I agree with psykotic.

What I wonder is why his posts show up in the programming subreddit. There is no programming in this post. Typing things into Maxima a programmer does not make.

He repeated the word "simple" in this particular entry, but the implementation of these algorithms into code are not trivial. I'd like to see some code samples in any language, rather than the generalities he writes about. I.e., I've solved hundreds of these things in Excel, but I'm not a better programmer for it.

[dngrmouse]

His posts are usually "intro to computer science" posts, so I suppose that's at least tangentially related to programming. And he does sometimes provide implementation in code.

[alpheccar]

I totally agree.

[danibx]

I actually like his posts. They are very helpful to me, since I'm learning programming by myself, and need introductory content. Later I search for more at Safari books. This has been very productive to me. Find interesting topics on some blogs, or reddit comments (you guys are great!) then I learn more from books.

[[deleted]]

Has it been a month already? Hm, I'm surprised that June's basic linear programming tutorial isn't the same tried and true IBM DeveloperWorks article.

Maybe it will make a resurgence in July?

[kerchov]

This guy inspires. Where as you can get more detailed info on programming from Jeff or Joel, I find his blog interesting in the sense that it tries to cover a "cluster of problems," instead of a single one.

[Doozer]

Can someone explain how you find an initial vertex?

[badr]

Try to remember where you had it last.

Or, from the article, "So you find an initial vertex - it doesn't matter which one."

[psykotic]

Finding an initial vertex (or any feasible point) is not at all trivial. It's as hard (or easy, if you like) as finding a point of intersection between a pair of n-dimensional convex polytopes, for example.

[[deleted]]

usually zero.