[dionidium]

I doubt that one would be closed. It has a definite answer (or could at least be re-asked in such a way as to limit discussion).

Incidentally, the answer just after yours is mine (lwburk), so don't draw too much attention to closing the question! What I'm more upset about is that the accepted answer is nothing more than a link (and has a lot more votes than your much better answer). That is definitely a historical accident. If these answers were each given today, yours would be voted much higher and his would be closed.

[btilly]

Looking at http://stackoverflow.com/faq I see the requirement that, You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. There is no way that the question fits that criteria.

I've had personal interaction with moderators over that exact issue. I personally enjoyed answering algorithm questions. However it came to my attention that any time moderators notice that type of question, they close them for exactly that reason. (No matter what the wishes of people who ask and answer that type of question might be.)

As for the historical accident - I agree. I'm amazed that an answer given years after the question was asked got as much attention as it did.

[dionidium]

Maybe you're right.

Regarding the historical accident: I was the one who suggested that you post that answer there after I saw you post it here [0]. I posted my answer a little while after that. I'm pretty sure all of our upvotes came from Hacker News.

[0] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2769132