>>>Realistically speaking, our profession is not a rocket science so it's beyond common sense to assume that something could be invented by the only person. One may claim that s/he got some idea independently, but it doesn't mean that others stole it.
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>>Yes, definitely not a rocket science. And the more I work as a programmer the more I see it as a cut and paste job... There are not that many interesting problems in the field.
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>>Yesterday, though, Robin brought an interesting problem. I don't think it's a good idea to solve it in VFP, though could be solved in any language since algorithms are well known.
>
>I remember doing something similar while in college. It could be time-consuming (in case of many iteration levels), but the algorithm itself (if by distance only) should be simple enough.

I would not call them simple Re: Every combination of a list of choices Thread #1223417 Message #1223527 I looked at the link yesterday briefly but found it way beyond my current level of mathematical knowledge.

Just curious which university did you graduate (you may answer in private). I figured you're from Moscow. I went to St. Petersburg Polytechnical University, very good faculty, but there is very little left (if any) of the excellent education I got.