Algorithm design
Encyclopedia
Algorithm design is a specific method to create a mathematical process in solving problems. Applied algorithm design is algorithm engineering
.
Algorithm design is identified and incorporated into many solution theories of operation research, such as dynamic programming
and divide-and-conquer
. Techniques for designing and implementing algorithm designs are algorithm design patterns, such as template method patterns and decorator patterns, and uses of data structures, and name and sort lists. Some current day uses of algorithm design can be found in internet retrieval processes of web crawling, packet routing and caching.
Mainframe programming languages such as ALGOL
(for Algorithmic language), FORTRAN
, COBOL
, PL/I, SAIL
, and SNOBOL are computing tools to implement an "algorithm design"... but, an "algorithm design" (a/d) is not a language. An a/d can be a hand written process, e.g. set of equations, a series of mechanical processes done by hand, an analog piece of equipment, or a digital process and/or processor.
One of the most important aspects of algorithm design is creating an algorithm that has an efficient run time, also known as its big Oh.
Algorithm engineering
Algorithm engineering is a combination of theoretical algorithm design with real-world data. By taking an algorithm and combining it with a hardware device connected to the real world, you are able to more accurately verify and validate the algorithm results and behavior...
.
Algorithm design is identified and incorporated into many solution theories of operation research, such as dynamic programming
Dynamic programming
In mathematics and computer science, dynamic programming is a method for solving complex problems by breaking them down into simpler subproblems. It is applicable to problems exhibiting the properties of overlapping subproblems which are only slightly smaller and optimal substructure...
and divide-and-conquer
Divide and conquer algorithm
In computer science, divide and conquer is an important algorithm design paradigm based on multi-branched recursion. A divide and conquer algorithm works by recursively breaking down a problem into two or more sub-problems of the same type, until these become simple enough to be solved directly...
. Techniques for designing and implementing algorithm designs are algorithm design patterns, such as template method patterns and decorator patterns, and uses of data structures, and name and sort lists. Some current day uses of algorithm design can be found in internet retrieval processes of web crawling, packet routing and caching.
Mainframe programming languages such as ALGOL
ALGOL
ALGOL is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in the mid 1950s which greatly influenced many other languages and became the de facto way algorithms were described in textbooks and academic works for almost the next 30 years...
(for Algorithmic language), FORTRAN
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
, COBOL
COBOL
COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....
, PL/I, SAIL
SAIL programming language
SAIL, the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language, was developed by Dan Swinehart and Bob Sproull of the Stanford AI Lab in 1970. It was originally a large ALGOL 60-like language for the PDP-10 and DECSYSTEM-20....
, and SNOBOL are computing tools to implement an "algorithm design"... but, an "algorithm design" (a/d) is not a language. An a/d can be a hand written process, e.g. set of equations, a series of mechanical processes done by hand, an analog piece of equipment, or a digital process and/or processor.
One of the most important aspects of algorithm design is creating an algorithm that has an efficient run time, also known as its big Oh.
Famous algorithms
- Dijkstra's algorithmDijkstra's algorithmDijkstra's algorithm, conceived by Dutch computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra in 1956 and published in 1959, is a graph search algorithm that solves the single-source shortest path problem for a graph with nonnegative edge path costs, producing a shortest path tree...
- Kruskal's algorithmKruskal's algorithmKruskal's algorithm is an algorithm in graph theory that finds a minimum spanning tree for a connected weighted graph. This means it finds a subset of the edges that forms a tree that includes every vertex, where the total weight of all the edges in the tree is minimized...
- Quicksort
- Merge sortMerge sortMerge sort is an O comparison-based sorting algorithm. Most implementations produce a stable sort, meaning that the implementation preserves the input order of equal elements in the sorted output. It is a divide and conquer algorithm...
- Depth-first searchDepth-first searchDepth-first search is an algorithm for traversing or searching a tree, tree structure, or graph. One starts at the root and explores as far as possible along each branch before backtracking....
- Breadth-first searchBreadth-first searchIn graph theory, breadth-first search is a graph search algorithm that begins at the root node and explores all the neighboring nodes...
- Insertion sortInsertion sortInsertion sort is a simple sorting algorithm: a comparison sort in which the sorted array is built one entry at a time. It is much less efficient on large lists than more advanced algorithms such as quicksort, heapsort, or merge sort...
Further reading
- Algorithm Design Paradigms - Overview by Paul Dunne at the University of Liverpool
- Stony Brook Algorithm Repository by Steven S. Skiena, Department of Computer Science , State University of New York