> Dellaert then uses that intuitive structure to show how to setup the problem in a way that can be efficiently computed using linear algebra.

But Dellaert didn't invent Factor Graphs, nor how to map a Factor Graphs to a Least Squares problem. Others did that way before him.

My criticism is directed towards his style of writing about SLAM in terms of probabilities and densities, which, IMO, is moot since at the end of the day he's just using Gaussians as everyone else and hence everything boils down to a Least Squares problem again. His probabilistic viewpoint is just a detour, a distraction at that point.

If he contributed a different kind of solver that could deal with arbitrary distributions then his probabilistic viewpoint would make a whole lot more sense but as long as it's just Gaussians I just don't see the point.