Definition
Plain language
The best result achieved so far, kept on record even if later tries do worse.
As stated in the literature
A monotonically non-decreasing per-component best score maintained across search rounds, so effort can be redirected to unsolved components instead of rediscovering earlier partial successes.
Also called: high-water marks
Why it matters: It stops a search from throwing away progress it already made, so effort goes toward the parts that are still unsolved.
For example, if round two solved the small-input case and round five did worse overall, the record still keeps the small-input success from round two.
Heard on the show
“The notebook keeps those high-water marks.”Episode 258 — The Same Weights Scored 291, Then 468 — What Changed Was the Loop