Re: wich is faster

From: Dave (recneps.w.divad_at_elcaro.moc)
Date: 05/26/04 

Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 11:21:35 +0100

buda wrote:
> "CBFalconer" <cbfalconer@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:40B12524.647DAEA2@yahoo.com...
>
>>buda wrote:
>>
>>>It seems to me that any good programmer should have algorithmic
>>>optimization on his mind all the time. I was referring to the
>>>single statement optimizations :)
>>
>>One of the elementary algorithmic optimizations available on
>>usenet is /do not top-post/.
>>
>>--
>>A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
>>Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
>>A: Top-posting.
>>Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?
>>
>
>
> There :) I suppose it depends on personal preference. I read posts
> sequentially, so the only thing that I want to read in a particular post is
> the "new" stuff, so I prefer it to be on the top. Sorry if it bothers you :)
>
>

I agree completely. I think new stuff should be the first thing you
see, which requires top-posting.

What bothers me is that this is a /programming/ NG, where people are
supposed to be able to read stuff in any order. I guess if main is at
the bottom of a file and the functions it calls are before it, most
people round here would be stuffed. I don't find the QAQA stuff above
difficult to read - sure, you have to reparse it once you realise it's
running back to front, but surely that shouldn't be more than a
ridiculously trivial problem for the vast majority of people here? Also
when something starts with "Re:" you already know there's going to be a
thread running through it, so establishing the direction of reading
would automatically be the first job.

One of the things I hate is having to repeat stuff. I suspect that is
true of many programmers because, at least theoretically, nothing should
ever need writing twice. Yet with the bottom posting rule it's new
message - scroll to the bottom - next new message - scroll to the bottom
- next - scroll - next - scroll and so on. Top posting eliminates all
that tedious scrolling, and if most people are already following the
thread, that's a lot of scrolling (and wasted time) just for the benefit
of the few who like to jump in in the middle of a conversation then
complain about stuff being in reverse order.

Random posting would of course be a nightmare, but if the same posting
convention is followed when started, whatever that convention, I can't
see what's wrong with that. You do get some idiots who bottom post when
the convention within that particular thread is top-posting, thus
creating the very problem they're protesting about.

I know just one person cannot change this NG's policy, but the above is
why I find it so difficult in this particular place to accept the
always-bottom-post rule. Perhaps in the next version of Usenet,
manually quoting previous posts wouldn't be necessary, and people could
view threads in whatever order they like - newest first, oldest first,
random with order determined by indentation, etc.

Dave.

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