From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!C70:info-cpm Newsgroups: fa.info-cpm Title: Fast spelling checker Article-I.D.: ucb.1727 Posted: Sun Aug 8 23:38:14 1982 Received: Mon Aug 9 05:29:10 1982 >From FONER@Mit-Mc Sun Aug 8 23:38:01 1982 You failed to specify what \search/ algorithm you use! A simple sequential search could indeed take up gobs and gobs of time... The subject of searching, sorting, optimal disk organization schemes, and so forth is quite old. I very highly recommend D E Knuth, _The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 3: Searching and Sorting_, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, MA, 1973 (ISBN 0-201-03803-X, Library of Congress Catalog Number 67-26020). This work is, in my opinion, the classic in the field. The twenty or thirty dollars spent will repay themselves many times if you use this book well. For anyone else, I recommend all three of Knuth's books (Fundamental Algorithms, Seminumerical Methods, and Searching and Sorting) as invaluable reference works. The mathematics can get very heavy at times, but the algorithms presented and the methods for evaluating them are clear and can almost always be applied without a deep appreciation of their mathematical elegance. As long as you're not trying to use the books as you would a textbook, you're all set. (No, I am not a spokespiece for Knuth, but merely a grateful user of his works such as this series and his TeX and METAFONT programs.) Have fun folks.