Chapter 1 The Role of Algorithms in Computing

Chapter 1 The Role of Algorithms in Computing

• What kinds of problems are solved by algorithms?

1. Store and analyze human DNA sequences
2. Manage and process Internet data
3. Public key cryptography and digital signature in e - commerce
4. Allocate rare resources with linear programming
5. …

• NP-complete problems

1. No one knows whether or not efficient algorithms exist for NP-complete problems.
2. If an efficient algorithm exists for any one of them, then efficient algorithms exist for all of them.

• Efficiency

1. Different algorithms devised to solve the same problem often differ dramatically in their efficiency.
2. Insertion sort typically has a smaller constant factor than merge sort.

• Algorithms and other technologies

1. advanced computer architectures and fabrication technologies.
2. easy-to-use, intuitive, graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
3. object-oriented systems
4. integrated Web technologies
5. fast networking, both wired and wireless.