Standard Forth versus Python: a case study

[idknow at gmail.com]

Paul McGuire wrote:
> <idknow at gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1160619958.438049.53390 at h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> > [snip]
> >
> > no sort() is needed to calculate the median of a list.
> >
> > you just need one temp var.
> >
>
> Ok, I'll bite.  How do you compute the median of a list using just a single
> temp var?
>
> -- Paul

hi Paul; well when this was a stats-class assignment (back when pascal
was popular :) i just stepped through the vector and compared it

(pseudo-code)

ptr p = [with values].

fun median {
 var x = 0.
  while( *p++) {
    if( (*p) > x) x = *p.
  }
  return x.
}

of course, pascal is more verbose but that's median()