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Old April 1st, 2005, 04:33 AM
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Arralen Arralen is offline
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Default Re: Reading maps from .map files

Alexti, I think you're missing the point. Someone who is an experienced programmer, maybe software engineer or with an degree in computer science or something, will have little trouble understanding what those libraries do, and how to use them.

Then think of a novice:
He still has to learn the basic syntax of the language.
He can barely do a command line programm, I/O will be a major obstacle.
The concept of OO-programming (C++, Java) is new to him, integrating pre-made libraries into his programm is quite a task for him.
He'll have to delve into the mathematical background of solving problems using computer algorithms, and that of the suggested theorems in particular.

So, it seems to me, you suppose someone should learn how to operate a particle accelerator to poke a hole into a sheet of paper. May work, but won't be the most effective way unless he's going for a degree or two in atomic physics anyway

And we're talking about a real thin sheet of paper: 100-300 provinces (nodes) at best, with less than 750 interconnects.
A short script will really do. If you're fancy, you may implement a graph algorithm in that script language, too (haven't checked if it's already available, but it might be)
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