Complexity of reallocating storage (was users command crap)

[Dan Bernstein]

In article <21548 at yunexus.YorkU.CA> oz at yunexus.yorku.ca (Ozan Yigit) writes:
> To rephrase: ... you are using poor programming techniques. No program
> should make multiple passes over a disk file when it could accomplish its
> task with a single pass with hardly any effort on the programmer's part.

If you spent a minute putting your priorities into order you'd realize
that this is an entirely ridiculous generalization. If two programs are
just as fast, just as small, and take just as little programmer (and
user) effort, then it simply doesn't matter whether one of them uses
more passes than the other.

To rephrase: You don't seem to know what good programming techniques
are. Tradeoffs between speed, space, and human effort are important.
Tradeoffs between ``multiple passes'' and ``single pass'' are entirely
irrelevant when they aren't reflected in speed, space, or human effort.

---Dan