Why using the word "mechanism" in CS?

Posted by Nick Rosencrantz on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Nick Rosencrantz
Published on 2012-11-07T13:10:41Z Indexed on 2012/11/07 17:17 UTC
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I'm not sure about the usage of the word "mechanism" when in fact most of the time what is meant is an algorithm. For instance there's talk about Java's "thread-scheduling mechanism" - why not call it an algorithm and why borrow a term from mechanics where relations sometimes are the opposites than of computer science?

I'm aware that an algorithm is considered a "mechanical solution" but is this really the case in fact when a lot of algorithm don't have mechanical representations for instance a file-sharing network that gets quicker and faster as the usage grows, that would be the reverse of a mechanical structure that would go slower when usage grows.

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