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Comment by Joe-Z | Hacker News Reader

I consider it from a problem-solving perspective: I don't need to know the intricate details of dozens of sorting algorithms or data structures. What I need to be able to do is solve the problems that get thrown at me in daily work. So if I get assigned, say, a performance problem I might, after some research, come up with the idea to use a different data structure to solve it. Or something entirely else! Depends on the problem and where my research leads me.

As a software developer I see myself mainly as someone who solves problems to help others do their work better. So, while I agree that having a strong CS background is definitely a benefit, I don't think it matters that much if you can't get binary trees just right after not needing to implement them for years.

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> So if I get assigned, say, a performance problem I might, after some research, come up with the idea to use a different data structure to solve it.

Yup. And my feel on that is that (assuming the perf issue is related to a core data structure), that -particular- perf issue shouldn't even have happened in the first place. It should have been obvious given the right background and you could have spent that time doing something less fundamental.

Things evolve. The scale of problems evolve. A data structure that was handling hundred of transactions, crumbles on hundred of thousands. Premature optimizations (and premature abstractions) are the root of all evil.

Corollary: A data structure that is instantiated million times in small sizes is different from one huge instance with million entries.

No argument there, but that's not what I'm arguing.

Do you have to reach out for google or a book to do a simple if/else statement? What about a for loop? Now what about the difference between a map and a set? Likely not, it's the basics used in any app.

Talking about premature optimization here implies there's some work to be done, things to think through, stuff that's not obvious. And that's totally true at a certain complexity level.

But what is "complex" and what is "obvious" isn't objective. It's purely a factor of what the "average software developer" knows.

What I'm arguing is that while at one point the pendulum was swinging too far one way, it's now too far in the other, and it's affecting software quality industry wide.

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