Leaf and Branch

A leaf in computer science is an ending. It’s where you get the payoff, find what you were looking for, finally meet something concrete in the abstract jungle. Truth be told, leaves don’t usually matter so much individually. They’re needed, but as a part of a whole rather than a thing to themselves. Lose a leaf and the algorithm might still keep on ticking. People can be like that, the wheels of the world keep grinding on with or without you. 

 

A branch in computer science is a choice. It is “this way or that?” It is the expansion of complexity or refinement of a search. It is essential. The branch is a lynchpin of an algorithm, a whole realm of content, a potential cascading nightmare of performance. However it manifests, a branch is something important, essential, terrible unto itself. A branch is undeniable. A branch is irreducible. People can be like that, glorious and beautiful and filled with unknown irreplaceable wonders, every last one possessed of their own essential uniqueness.