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FWIW, I don't consider bubblesort as trivia -- it's literally the simplest and most obvious sorting algorithm. IMO, it's a lot harder to understand more complex algorithms unless you have at least these basics in your head.



Knowing the atomic number of all the elements on the periodic table is also very simple to memorize. The fact that you don't know them all isn't because it's hard nor complex. The same thing applies to bubblesort and every other thing you might not know off-hand without googling.

Watch Jeopardy and ask yourself if any of the questions are particularly hard or complex to memorize. Perhaps that's not why you don't know them.

I've implemented bubblesort at least 10 times in uni. I remember a few of the sorting algorithms I had to impl, but I forget which one is bubblesort. It would take me 10 seconds to go "oh right, that one" if I ever need to see it. I haven't had to in the 15 years since uni. Remembering that bubblesort is algo A vs algo B without googling it the one time I need to know is worthless. Knowing higher level concepts of sorting and perf trade-offs, on the other hand, is not.

Having a set of trivia that you consider essential is itself trivia. As I could have my own arbitrary list of easily googleable essentials, like the wall socket voltage in every country in the world. No matter how handy I claim that knowledge is, it doesn't even pay its rent in the grey matter is takes up when you can just google it.


But you don't know what is at the other end of the spectrum you are on. What if someone knows these algorithms and has very good recall. Perhaps it becomes easier to reason about and mutate these ideas in their heads. Come up with new things, or do algorithmic things faster.

I still think problem solving with newly gained knowledge is the way to go for retaining things longterm, but if you aided that process with something like Anki for meaningful connected information, you'd certainly be better off compared to someone who just does the former


It's actually not - it's the simplest to implement.

The most obvious conceptually is insertion or selection sort (depending on the person).




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