Writing these definitions was a new experience for me. I have never had to define the term computational complexity in more detail than what was included in my sentence definition. I found it somewhat challenging to convey the information I wanted to in my expanded definition without having to refer to other terms and concepts that a reader with limited knowledge of algorithm analysis would not be familiar with. In writing these definitions I learned several techniques for explaining a term to a naive user without losing the meaning of the term.
The peer review I received for my work was well written and I found all of the points made by my reviewer to be accurate and helpful. I was somewhat unsure whether or not I had presented my expanded definition clearly enough as this is a term that often confuses computer science students when they first learn about it. I was happy that my reviewer was able to understand my definition and only had a few minor comments on terminology and the ordering of my sections along with a few missed typos.
This exercise reinforced my beliefs that good peer-review can help find errors or problems in a piece of writing that the original author did not notice. I was pleased at the level of detail my reviewer went in to. After implementing the changes suggested I feel that my definitions are stronger than they were originally.
Paul Lee’s peer review of my definitions
My edited definitions