From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,TO_NO_BRKTS_FROM_MSSP autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,e382b50ddc696050 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-12-07 11:45:25 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!nntp-relay.ihug.net!ihug.co.nz!out.nntp.be!propagator-SanJose!in.nntp.be!newsranger.com!www.newsranger.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada From: Ted Dennison References: <3C0DB9D0.7184868A@acm.org> <3C0EB851.77E7172A@boeing.com> <3C0FAF78.6F006DF7@boeing.com> <3C110606.A37E9D10@boeing.com> Subject: Re: List Strawman JC01 Message-ID: <8%8Q7.53294$xS6.88020@www.newsranger.com> X-Abuse-Info: When contacting newsranger.com regarding abuse please X-Abuse-Info: forward the entire news article including headers or X-Abuse-Info: else we will not be able to process your request X-Complaints-To: abuse@newsranger.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001 14:45:08 EST Organization: http://www.newsranger.com Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001 19:45:08 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:17607 Date: 2001-12-07T19:45:08+00:00 List-Id: In article <3C110606.A37E9D10@boeing.com>, Jeffrey Carter says... >Perhaps we were talking past each other here. I was discussing this >particular package as a vehicle to allow discussion of alternative names >and items that are still undecided while presenting everything we had >decided. Since the name of the package and the structure and contents of Good. That's precisely what I was hoping we were doing. I guess my problem was indeed that I was zoning in on individual things rather than considering the naming scheme as a whole. >Every data structures text I've seen describes the abstract concept of a >list as an ordered sequence of values with one value considered the >first value, another the next value, and so on to the last value. I I'd agree with the first part, but not with the second, at least not for a general bidirectional list like we have. I know some texts say "linked-list" when they mean "singly-linked-list". Also, some authors may not be as careful about using confusing terminology like "first" and "last" for ends like we are being. Also, sometimes people come into reading with a preconcieved idea about things, and end up not comming away with the precise concept that the author intended. And sometimes authors are just plain wrong (it happens). Anyway, I'm not sure where you got this impression. But I can assure you that I have been "classicly trained" in Computer Science (BS and MS), have had to read many such texts for no less than 5 different courses that covered this kind of material, and did not come away with that impression. >nor have I found any online. [However, see pp 70 and 72 of file >08Pointers.ppt available at > >http://cs.calvin.edu/books/c++/ds/1e/NewPPSlides2/ I did take a look at that. He does indeed use the unfortunate labels "First" and "Last", which seem to be causing you so much trouble. This could be carelessness, but I think he did it to show progression from his previous singly-linked list example. Doing otherwise would have made it look too new. But his heart is indeed in the right place, as he makes a point of referring to this structure as "bidirectional" and "symmetricly-linked". I've never heard the latter term before, and couldn't find anyone else using it, but it just about sums things up perfectly. --- T.E.D. homepage - http://www.telepath.com/dennison/Ted/TED.html No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.