Re: Searching explanation of different diff algorithms

From: Ondřej Bílka <neleai@seznam.cz>
Date: Sep 25, 2013, 08:55 UTC
Message-ID: <20130925085557.GA11402@domone.kolej.mff.cuni.cz>
In-Reply-To: <201309250924.15741.thomas@koch.ro>

On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 09:24:15AM +0200, Thomas Koch wrote:

Show 7 quoted lines

> Is there any explanation available of the different merrits and drawbacks of 
> the diff algorithms that Git supports?
> 
> I'm not satisfied with the default diff but have enough processing power for a 
> slower algorithm that might produce diffs that better show the intention of the 
> edit.
>

It is not just question of algorithm, even definition how should most readable diff look like is problematic, for example when large block is rewritten and one line is unchanged then you get diff like

if (x){
- foo
+ bar
} else {
- foo
+ bar
}

but it is better to create following diff as it does not break flow of code.

if (x) {
- foo
-} else {
- foo
+ bar
+} else {
+ bar
}