> The question posed was "how do they differ?" not "how important is that difference?"
And the question arose from the claim that the formally taught and self-taught programmers take different approaches in general. It goes without saying that a problem that can be solved effectively using a trie will be approached in 2 different ways by someone who knows tries and someone who does not. The claim made in the OP was broad, and I am saying about 80% of the time, an auto-didact and a CS person will solve it the same way. Claiming that because sometimes a CS person can use insights which the non-cs guy doesn't have doesn't equate to different approaches.
The fact that 80% of the time the approach is not important to get the desired result because the task only operates over small n or similar does not mean that the approaches are equal.
And the question arose from the claim that the formally taught and self-taught programmers take different approaches in general. It goes without saying that a problem that can be solved effectively using a trie will be approached in 2 different ways by someone who knows tries and someone who does not. The claim made in the OP was broad, and I am saying about 80% of the time, an auto-didact and a CS person will solve it the same way. Claiming that because sometimes a CS person can use insights which the non-cs guy doesn't have doesn't equate to different approaches.