in reply to Re: Being helpful to a fault?
in thread Being helpful to a fault?

As someone who often tries to "answer the bigger question", let me respond.

Perhaps in 9 out of 10 cases, the person really has thought things through. (I don't believe that, but I won't argue the made-up statistic.)

I don't have to because in more than 9 out of 10 cases I don't respond that way. In fact I only choose to respond that way when I see what I take to be cues that indicate that in this case the person hasn't thought things through. And I've hit the mark often enough that I am convinced that trying to answer the larger problem is worthwhile, despite the fact that I miss the boat sometimes.

(An incidental side point. In your made-up example, the chorus of responses would be to just use Perl's built-in sort.)

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Re: made-up statistic
by etcshadow (Priest) on Dec 11, 2003 at 16:31 UTC
    49% of all statistics are just made up on the spot. 87% of people know that.

    ------------
    :Wq
    Not an editor command: Wq
[reply]
      87% of people know that.

      Is that subject to the usual ± 3% margin for error?

      Examine what is said, not who speaks.
      "Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham
      "Think for yourself!" - Abigail
      Hooray!
[reply]
Re: Being helpful to a fault?
by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Dec 11, 2003 at 09:36 UTC
    An incidental side point. In your made-up example, the chorus of responses would be to just use Perl's built-in sort.
    Which, on modern Perls, isn't a quicksort by default.

    Abigail

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