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--- public:how_parkrun_volunteers_sort_barcodes_-_a_computer_scientist_s_perspective [2018/12/28 03:06] – fangfufu
+++ public:how_parkrun_volunteers_sort_barcodes_-_a_computer_scientist_s_perspective [2018/12/28 03:12] – fangfufu
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 ====== How Parkrun volunteers sort barcodes - a computer scientist's perspective ======
-On the Christmas day of 2018, I volunteered at Norwich Parkrun. Towards the end, I ended up helping out with sorting the plastic barcodes. I find the whole process interesting. This is because sorting algorithm is an essential part of computer science curriculum [(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorting_algorithm#History)]. I do have a special connection to sorting algorithm - I bumped into Sir Charles Antony Richard Hoare FRS FREng [(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hoare)][(https://www.fangfufu.co.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=public:bumping_into_sir_tony_hoare_on_the_day_before_i_learnt_quicksort)], the inventor of quicksort algorithm [(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicksort)], the day before I was formally taught quicksort for the second time ((I was taught it once in A-Level Maths D1 module when I was a Year 12 student in Ashmole School, London.)) as a computer science undergrad in University of York.
+On the Christmas day of 2018, I volunteered at Norwich Parkrun. Towards the end, I ended up helping out with sorting the plastic barcodes. I find the whole process interesting. This is because sorting algorithm is an essential part of computer science curriculum [(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorting_algorithm#History)]. I do have a special connection to sorting algorithm - I bumped into Sir Charles Antony Richard Hoare FRS FREng [(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hoare)][(https://www.fangfufu.co.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=public:bumping_into_sir_tony_hoare_on_the_day_before_i_learnt_quicksort)], the inventor of quicksort algorithm [(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicksort)], the day before I was formally taught quicksort for the second time [(I was taught it once in A-Level Maths D1 module when I was a Year 12 student in Ashmole School, London.)] as a first year computer science undergrad in University of York.
 Sorting numbers inside a computer is a bit different to sorting objects in physical world. This is mainly because the uniform cost model does not apply in the physical world [(costmodel > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_of_algorithms#Cost_models)]. However some of the concepts in algorithm analysis can still be applied to physical world, for example time complexity and space complexity [(https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/djimenez/utsa/cs1723/lecture2.html)].
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 Preallocation of enough empty space for the missing barcodes should help with the problem as well - that way you don't need to shuffle those out-of-place barcodes.
-==== Conclusion ====
+===== Conclusion =====
 I quite enjoyed participating barcode sorting. It is quite of interesting to observe a physical implementation of bucket sort. A lot of computer algorithms are inspired by real life processes. I think perhaps the bucket sort algorithm you learn from textbooks is the abstraction of real life bucket sort process. After all, Wikipedia does not say who came up with bucket sort [(bucketsort)]. It really does make me think - a lot of assumptions in the physical world do not apply in computers, a lot of assumptions that work in computers do not apply in real life. If real life processes can inspire computer algorithms, then surely computer algorithms can inspire real life processes.
-==== Further readings ====
+===== Further readings =====
+There are other topics which link computer science into the way the physical world works, for example operational research [(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operations_research)]. There was a time which all computation were performed by physical objects, to explore this topic, have a look at analogue computers [(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer)]. Finally, there have been works on explaining the limitation of computation using physical phenomenons, to explore this topic, have a look at [(Limits on Efficient Computation in the Physical World - https://www.scottaaronson.com/thesis.pdf)] and [(NP-complete Problems and Physical Reality - https://www.scottaaronson.com/papers/npcomplete.pdf)]