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Three Beautiful Quicksorts

Google TechTalks2 HN recommenders · 2010–2023
45K views · talk · evergreen · Uploaded 2007-10-09

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.

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

Algorithms & data structuresSoftware architecture & design

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3 comments from Hacker News

@ehsanul2010 · in “-2000 Lines Of Code”

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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@erre2013 · in “A regular expression matcher By Rob Pike and Brian Kernighan (2007)”

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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@tonym1282023 · in “Ask HN: Where do I find good code to read?”

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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