Back in highschool, simulating different elevator algorithms was one of the projects I implemented during my CS class. It wasn't for the class — AP CS did not require anything like actual programming — but it was a fun project.
A cool connection is that a spinning-disk hard drive (HDD) is actually kind of like one really long elevator, just wrapped around a spindle instead of perfectly vertical. The SCAN algorithm is actually a disk-scheduling algorithm!
The elevator algorithm → disk scheduling connection is such a perfect example of how CS concepts keep showing up in unexpected places. Same idea, completely different domain.
It makes me wonder how many other "unrelated" problems we're solving today already have decades-old algorithms waiting to be rediscovered for them. Robot motion planning is basically just elevator scheduling with more degrees of freedom.
peterldowns · · focus · HN ↗
A cool connection is that a spinning-disk hard drive (HDD) is actually kind of like one really long elevator, just wrapped around a spindle instead of perfectly vertical. The SCAN algorithm is actually a disk-scheduling algorithm!
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_algorithm" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_algorithm
liesliy · · focus · HN ↗
toxik · · focus · HN ↗
Certainly a take, ChatGPT. Not a very good one, but a take nonetheless.