May 15, 2003
Effectively vs. Efficiently
Needed the difference between these two words today, and after searching in vain on many online dictionaries I managed to find some links that described it to me, resulting in a definition related to computer science and maths.
Effective: Choosing the right algorithm, the one with the smallest possible time complexity (big-oh notation).
Efficient: Implementing the algorithm using the most effective sub-algorithms in doing so. (E.g. do not calculate the same result twice etc.)
Were as effectiveness is a 'mathematical' skill, efficiency is more a 'hacker' skill. Note that it is not possible to make any ineffective efficiently implemented algorithm generally faster than an effective but less efficiently implemented algorithm.
Posted by ludvig at May 15, 2003 05:50 PM | TrackBackComments
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