Comment on BookWyrm: Fediverse for book readers
dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de 11 months agoPlus people apparently don’t know what „algorithm“ means. Sorting by average rating is an algorithm. Filtering by genre is an algorithm. Anything that takes an input (a database of books), performs a discrete set of steps and produces an output (an ordered list of books) is an algorithm. Even if it’s not performed by a computer but yourself standing in front of your bookshelf.
LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 11 months ago
This is true, but colloquially when people say “I dislike algorithms,” we are referring to any system that automatically sorts or elicits information, apart from responding to user input. I like having the ability to sort and filter things manually, but I dislike unsolicited recommendations and things of that nature. I think most people know the technical meaning of the word.
DonnerWolfBach@feddit.de 11 months ago
I do not think most people know about the computer science definition of algorithm involving discrete steps. For average people I feel like your definiton of “any system that automatically sorts or elecits information, apart from responding to user input” is the only one known.
LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one 11 months ago
You may be right, I’m not really sure. And in this case, this is still what people are referring to colloquially.