[Shootout-list] ackermann, values for ''n''

[Bengt Kleberg]

greetings,

first i would like to thank Mr Brent Fulgham for indulging me by 
answering some of my emails about adding more, and more spread out, 
''n'' to the tests. i should work harder at the problem, but since i am 
almost the only person interested in the problem i sometimes laps into 
prolonged periods of inactivity.


it seems to be difficult to get the kind of ''n'' selection i would like 
to see, given the current 24 hour limit for running all tests on all 
languages. i would like to suggest that we look at the possiblity to 
have another limit. what about 1 hour for all the tests for one 
language? or 1 hour for one test for all the languages? or something?


i have looked at the ''n'' values for ackermann. only beacuse it is the 
first function in the list. however, it is a rather good starting point 
since it is relly difficult to handle with my usual method. ackermann 
goes from very fast to very slow with a very small increase in ''n''. 
the current value (9) gives run times from 0.1 second to (almost) 100 
seconds. 0.1 is too short (imho). if i increase ''n'' to 10 i get 
sligthly below 0.5 seconds, still a bit short. with 11 i get 3 seconds. 
this is enough (0.5 to 1 second would be ok, i think), but 11 should 
make the 100 second program approach 3000 seconds.
i think it would be better to have another test than ackermann. one that 
is not so sensitive to ''n''.
ok?


bengt