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Miloslav Ciz 2023-10-08 20:16:36 +02:00
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Algorithm (from the name of Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi) is an exact step-by-step description of how to solve some type of a problem. Algorithms are basically what [programming](programming.md) is all about: we tell [computers](computer.md), in very exact ways (with [programming languages](programming_language.md)), how to solve problems -- we write algorithms. But algorithms don't have to be just computer programs, they are simply instruction for solving problems.
Cooking recipes are commonly given as an example of a non-computer algorithm, though they rarely contain branching and loops, the key features of an algorithm. The so called wall-follower is a simple algorithm to get out of any maze: you just pick either a left-hand or right-hand wall and then keep following it. You may write a crazy algorithm basically for any kind of problem, e.g. for how to clean a room or how to pick up a girl, but it has to be **precise** so that anyone can execute the algorithm just by blindly following the steps; if there is any ambiguity, it is not considered an algorithm.
Cooking recipes are commonly given as an example of a non-computer algorithm, though they rarely contain branching ("if then...") and loops ("while a condition holds do ..."), the key features of algorithms. The so called wall-follower is a simple algorithm to get out of any [maze](maze.md): you just pick either a left-hand or right-hand wall and then keep following it. You may write a crazy algorithm basically for any kind of problem, e.g. for how to clean a room or how to get a [girl](woman.md) to bed, but it has to be **precise** so that anyone can execute the algorithm just by blindly following the steps; if there is any ambiguity, it is not considered an algorithm; a vague, imprecise "hint" on how to find a solution (e.g. "to get to the airport head somewhere in this direction.") we rather call a [heuristic](heuristic.md). Heuristics are useful too and they may be utilized by an algorithm, e.g. to find a precise solution faster, but from programmer's point of view algorithms, the PRECISE ways of finding solutions, are the basic of everything.
Interesting fact: contrary to intuition there are problems that are mathematically proven to be unsolvable by any algorithm, see [undecidability](undecidability.md), but for most practically encountered problems we can write an algorithm (though for some problems even our best algorithms can be unusably [slow](time_complexity.md)).