Based on a conversation between Aaron and I this morning, reminiscing this morning about an amazing course we both took back in college.
The course really hammered on the notion that problem solving was at the heart of thinking like a (good) computer scientist, and the professor, Steven Rudich, had this refrain which he said at least once every class: Find the right representation for the problem.
Aaron elaborated insightfully on it, pointing out that one reason this is such an important strategy is that, often, the structure of a problem’s solution mimics the structure of the problem itself. Uncover a problem’s deep structure, and you’re often pretty much done.
Not that this necessarily makes it any easier to solve the problem, but it’s a good reminder / pointer about really focusing on the heart of the problem. Hence, the haiku.
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