A counterweight to the rest of the series. Amid the rush to put a language model behind every problem, this paper reminds engineers that deterministic algorithms, data structures, and classical computer science still solve most problems faster, cheaper, and more reliably than inference. The dedication — "for everyone who solved it with a regex when the world wanted them to use a language model" — captures the spirit. A useful corrective for teams at risk of forgetting the cheap, exact tools they already have.
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