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[–] -1 points 16 hours ago (5 children)

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.

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  • [–] 1 point 15 hours ago (4 children)

    Well yes it's tailored but it is not an algorithm unless everything is an algorithm like a baking recipe.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 hours ago (1 child)

    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?

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  • [–] 0 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour 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.

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  • [–] 1 point 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours 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.

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