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Three Beautiful Quicksorts

Google TechTalks · 45.3K views · 2007-10-09 · 53:56

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Overview

Jon Bentley walks through three implementations of Hoare's Quicksort, from a dozen-line C function to a series of systematic code transformations that make the program ever simpler and more powerful. It is a Google Tech Talk on code elegance and program derivation.

On Hacker News

HN commenters point to it as programming inspiration and as a source of Bentley's anecdotes about adding function by deleting code.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2010–2023

Topics

Algorithms & data structuresSoftware architecture & design
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quicksortcode elegancealgorithmsprogram transformationjon bentley

What people said

tonym128 · 2023-08 · Recommendation

I'm sorry these are videos, but your question made me think of these. If you're looking for programming inspiration I love these videos Jon Bentley - Three Beautiful Quicksorts [VIDEO] Bret Victor - Inventing on Principle [LINK]

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erre · 2013-05 · Recommendation

Ah, and Jon Bentley's chapter about quicksort, along whose lines there's a (also very interesting) Google Tech Talk: [VIDEO]

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ehsanul · 2010-02 · Reference

I'm reminded of this Google Tech Talk, where the speaker (Jon Bentley) refers to a colleague's praise of someone who "adds function by deleting code": [VIDEO] Edit: Fixed quote

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Sources

Video by Google TechTalks, played through YouTube.

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