When to skip solving the general problem and settling for the specific problem?

Posted by Peter Smith on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Peter Smith
Published on 2012-07-02T22:16:39Z Indexed on 2012/07/03 3:24 UTC
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specifications

I've been working hard on trying to develop a general solution to my problem, but I cannot seem to formulate a proper algorithm for it, at least one that doesn't take a ton of inaccurate grunt work building a lookup table.

I have a solution already for the specific requirement, but it requires the software's configuration to be changed every time the software is loaded with a different geographic area's datasets.

So is it better to be finished and move on for now, or to keep attempting to solve the general problem knowing that the specific problems will keep popping up?

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