From: terje.mathisen@nospicedham.tmsw.no   
      
   Rod Pemberton wrote:   
   > On Tue, 15 May 2018 07:44:33 +0200 Terje Mathisen   
   >> That looked like a perfectly reasonable solution?   
   >>   
   >   
   > A doubly-linked list as part of the solution was apparently required   
   > of the presumed student.  To which, I said and demonstrated:   
   >   
   > "The problem is too simple to use linked lists."   
   >   
   > Of course, this is true.  It is a simple problem.  A doubly linked   
   > list is overkill.  (My "simple" solution was probably overkill too.)   
   >   
   > My statement, that a linked list isn't required, seems impressive at   
   > first, until you realize that my provided solution failed to follow   
   > the directions to use a doubly linked list.  ;-)   
   >   
   > Am I being too generous to myself for thinking this is rather   
   > insidious?   
      
   No. :-)   
   >   
   > What would happen if a teacher was initially impressed by the   
   > observation and creativity of the student, but later realized the   
   > student didn't follow the directions?  (Yes, they absolutely hate   
   > when students don't follow the directions.)   
   >   
      
   Bad teachers penalize such students, good teachers reward them.   
      
   Back in high school I had one paper returned with a demerit for   
   inventing a better & more direct solution than the textbook version they   
   expected.   
      
   However, when my (really great!) math teacher went through the test on   
   the blackboard, he used my approach as an example showing how to get   
   extra credit! (He had not graded my paper obviously...)   
      
   In your original example, the really over the top solution would have   
   used some fancy group theory math to directly return the answer. (I   
   don't know if this is theoretically possible in the general case?)   
      
   Terje   
      
   --   
   -    
   "almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)