"Best Fit" Algorithm Request && Teach A Man To Fish
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Wow: Looks like my question is akin to smacking a wasp nest with a cricket bat. Glad to see it sparked some convo. So with what I found that was suggested by Harold and Luc, it seems like I could get away with just a simple priority list and just do the fat jobs first. There are no dependencies (job x has to be done before job y), so there's nothing stopping me from doing the jobs in any order. But I'm not sold that this is the way to achieve the quickest completion time. I might be wrong but there might be some cases where this wouldn't work. So I'll have to look around a little more--fortunately the links and ideas given were a good step toward what I was looking for.
An aerosol of solvent is my first choice for a wasps nest. No Smoking. No Electric. etc Tadeusz Westawic An ounce of Clever is worth a pound of Experience.
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All, I'm in need of an algorithm that I have no idea about comparing it to other algorithms. Imagine if you had a set of wooden blocks, all the same thickness but differing in lengths. The goal is to stack all of the blocks in such a way that the total length of this "wall" is the shortest length possible. There would be a different result depending on if you stack the wall 2, 3, 4, or N blocks high. The wall doesn't have to be perfectly straight on both sides either. Not sure what this is even similar to, and would appreciate some guidance. I'd also appreciate knowing where some of you look for information about algs, because it seems like I can never find a comprehensive site containing the names, applications and descriptions of common or more obscure ones. If any of you want to give up your sources, your secrets are moderately safe with me :) Thanks, Michael Fritzius
Hello All, I was just stopping-by to make a rare post and I poked into this thread. In my mind I think of these kinds of problems as 'least energy state' problems. These very often correlate to conditions in analog setttings. By thinking one's way forth-and-back through analog-digital conversions, some unnoticed feature of the problem often presents itself. Your analogue thougtht-picture of blocks in a tall wall is an example. I imagined myself with a large appliance box and spheres of varying diameter representing the jobs. With spheres in the box I shake the box, stop, note the arrangement of spheres, and repeat. Anyone else with a thought picture? Tadeusz Westawic An ounce of Clever is worth a pound of Experience.
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your problem seems somewhat similar to the Knapsack problem[^], and Wikipedia (or Google) are a good place to start your search. :)
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