Software Development

Algorithm

Quick Definition

An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure that takes an input and produces an output.

Expanded Explanation

Algorithms are the recipes that software follows to solve problems — from sorting a list to finding the shortest route in a map. They are analysed by correctness and by how their time and memory usage grow with the input size.

Simple explanation

A recipe: do this, then that, then check something, then do something else — repeat until you get the answer.

Simple Examples

  • Binary search on a sorted list.
  • Dijkstra's algorithm for shortest paths.
  • PageRank for ranking web pages.
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