

List of Multiple Discoveries - GuiA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multiple_discoveries

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geon
I invented the Trie data structure
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trie)), and
used it to efficiently count and sort words.

Years later, I found out it had an official name and was well documented.

~~~
jonathanhefner
I had the very same experience (though my use case was something akin to
autocomplete), and so have a handful of other people I've spoken with. I think
that has interesting implications regarding the patentability of software and
algorithms.

