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A visual introduction to big O notation

(samwho.dev)
688 points samwho | 1 comments | 24 Aug 25 07:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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jcalx ◴[25 Aug 25 20:34 UTC] No.45018653[source]▶
This article and its associated HN comment section continue in the long tradition of Big O Notation explainers [0] and getting into a comment kerfuffle over the finer, technical points of such notation versus its practical usage [1]. The wheel turns...

[0] https://nedbatchelder.com/text/bigo.html

[1] https://nedbatchelder.com/blog/201711/toxic_experts.html

replies(8): >>45018700 #>>45019269 #>>45019323 #>>45019459 #>>45020278 #>>45022682 #>>45024681 #>>45026341 #
1. the_af ◴[26 Aug 25 13:34 UTC] No.45026341[source]▶
One caveat here is that the author of the article posted it here in HN for comments -- it's not that someone else did, and this is unfair because HN was never supposed to take a look, etc. They expected a review, otherwise they wouldn't have posted it here.

HN is not an audience of laypeople (mostly) and will critique the article with a different mindset than a novice that might be impressed by the visuals (which are impressive).

So I think the reaction is both to be expected and reasonable: HN will critique how correct the explanation is, and point out the mistakes. And there were a couple of fundamental mistakes due to the author not being a subject matter expert.