Explore the journey and problem-solving techniques of Alexander Block, the winning professional entrant of the 15th annual APL Problem Solving Competition, in this 26-minute conference talk from Dyalog '23. Discover Block's background in mathematics, insurance, and functional programming, and how it led him to Dyalog APL. Delve into detailed explanations of his approaches to solving competition problems, including the "Risky Business" challenge from phase 1 and a partitioning task from phase 2. Learn about generalizing problems, using the over operator for code cleanup, handling optional arguments, and leveraging the stencil operator for efficient partitioning. Gain insights into advanced APL techniques and problem-solving strategies that can be applied to complex computational challenges.
Overview
Syllabus
Introduction
How did I get into APL? My background in mathematics, insurance and functional programming.
Describing phase 1 problem 5 Risky Business
Generalising the problem
Solution to phase 1 problem 5
Use of the over operator to clean up the code
Describing phase 2 problem 2 task 4
Example partitioning a vector
High rank example and edge case
Handling optional arguments
Setting the partition start
Partitioning with the stencil operator
Computing indices corresponding to movement of partitions
Taught by
Dyalog User Meetings
