Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions

#191

Post by tootlol » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 5:38 AM UTC

ikarous wrote: post #168

Natsu wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked at that challenge. Is it really that much harder than FizzBuzz? Seems like it requires more string manipulation and about the same level of mathematics as FizzBuzz. Or am I falling victim to the effect where everything I know how to do looks easy?

The problem's description is deceptively simple. It poses at the end a combinatorics problem that is non-trivial. I submitted a correct solution after a bit of research; my first approach was the naive solution.

How did you submit the solution with a library? Doesn't upload mechanism assume only 1 file?

Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions

#192

Post by zohebv » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 7:46 PM UTC

justin_vanw wrote: post #75

Your description really isn't enough to give you advice. You should post your resume online somewhere and link to it. But, based on what you said, I can tell you: Using Python in school and at a job doesn't make you a Python Hacker. From your description of yourself it sounds like you mostly play with programming. It may just be the way you worded it, but what was the last 'major' software project you have worked on,…

This looks like a variation of the stable marriage problem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_marriage_problem

Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions

#193

Post by Natsu » Sun, Aug 07, 2011, 10:16 PM UTC

Natsu wrote: post #186

Estragon wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not linear algebra, although the optimization problem can be expressed in terms of linear programming, I think. I wish you well in caring for your grandmother. That stuff is way more important than programming techniques.

It's weird how full-circle I've gone on this. I went from "the naive solution is easy enough to write" to "I bet there's a more efficient way" to "oh crap, my solution doesn't actually work, because the preferences can have ties." I did have the fun of coding up the algorithm I saw on HN a while back, though, so it was fun.

Incidentally, I had more time this weekend and found that it gets a lot easier if I use a more suitable algorithm. Considering it as a S-M problem only makes things more complex, because there can be ties (which kills the nice algorithm for solving these) while introducing more complexity than is necessary, given that there's a single cost to be maximized, rather than two distinct preference lists.

Seems like I should have been doing it as an A problem, where you can just use the H algorithm. So I want to say thanks to the guys who posted the challenge: it was a good excuse to teach myself some combinatorial algorithms.

Lest anyone wonder, I'm using those weird abbreviations so as not to spoil the problem. Figuring out which algorithms to use is half the fun and I read about quite a few different types of problems before figuring out which was the most suitable. I'd hate to deny anyone else the same learning experience.

Re: Ask HN: Desperate Python Hacker Seeking Help and Suggestions

#194

Post by _delirium » Mon, Aug 08, 2011, 10:15 AM UTC

wyclif wrote: post #88

ashchristopher wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a bunch of big python/django shops in Toronto... more than I can count on two hands... and they are all hiring.

Just curious, what do they do about visas for American employees?

If you have enough qualification points, and sometimes subject to a province's discretion, you can get a Canadian work permit without being sponsored, which can make it much easier to subsequently find jobs. From what I hear, applying directly to Alberta or Quebec via their provincial-level immigration offices is the best bet (with the latter it helps if you can say you know at least basic French).