[tharkun__]

By all means, if the specific algorithm isn't important I would totally be onboard with you in naming it after what the purpose is instead!

Feels like the difference between inlining quicksort vs. calling quicksort() vs. calling sort(). In some situations you really are on a level where you need to know you are calling mergesort() and not quicksort() but some are fine with sort(). I doubt there are many examples of code I'd argue for inlining.

[dagw]

It's actually worse than that. Mergesort and quicksort will at least eventually give the same answer (ignoring sort stability). When it comes to numerical approximations different algorithms can all give different answers. Picking the right one is always a balance between performance, stability and accuracy and the right answer often depends on what your input looks like and how sensitive to errors you are.