• BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      Every algorithm is tailored. You not being able to sort an RSS feed a certain way, is a function of Admins turning off that particular algorithm.

    • KernelTale@programming.dev
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      1 day ago

      This would be an argument only if you argued that everything is an algorithm at which point the argument would lose any meaning.

      • alapakala@quokk.au
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        1 day ago

        If that were the case, I could control https://programming.dev/feeds/u/kerneltale.xml?sort=New, but since I cannot control that feed, it is tailored to whatever programming.dev admins and the user that operates kerneltale publishes with it.

        RSS isn’t as dynamic as pubsubhubbub.

          • belluck@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 day ago

            A baking recipe is an algorithm, though. That was the example I learned in school to explain the concept of algorithms: a set of specific instructions to solve a problem in a finite number of steps. How else would you define it?

            • KernelTale@programming.dev
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              21 hours ago

              Because non technical people don’t go by that definition. When a person says algorithm they either mean this or black magic machine learned model giving results based on a massive amounts of data. Not if else statements. I’ve said at the start that either everything is an algorithm or this argument is pointless. They continued arguing, so I assumed they weren’t saying: oh yes, this floor is made out of floor.

          • alapakala@quokk.au
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            1 day ago

            the algorithm is chosen by the authors😔

            you, haven’t experienced malicious authors, huh

          • Err(()).unwrap()@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Pray tell, what do you think decides what goes into the RSS output and in what way? Could it be something that selects and sorts a list of entries based on some criteria? Something like a sorting algorithm?

            Yes, everything is an algorithm. A baking recipe is an algorithm because it is a list of instructions that accomplish a specific goal. What came to be known as “The Algorithm” is one specific case that uses different variables (account history, the relevance of the content, and its popularity) to maximize engagement.