drummyfish/less_retarded_wiki
5
1
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity

Update

Browse source
This commit is contained in:
Miloslav Ciz 2024-03-18 14:04:06 +01:00
parent 272ed022c3
commit 4533fde60c
13 changed files with 1723 additions and 1713 deletions
Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

2
algorithm.md
View file

@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Algorithm
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 exact instruction for solving problems.
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 exact instruction for solving problems. Although maybe not as obvious, [mathematics](math.md) is also a lot about creating algorithms because it strives to give us exact instructions for solving problems -- a mathematical formula usually tells us what we have to do to compute something, so in a way it is an algorithm too.
Cooking recipes are commonly given as an example of a non-computer algorithm, though they rarely contain branching ("if condition holds then do...") 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) which doesn't have any disconnected walls: 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. "the airport is somewhere in this general 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 basics of everything.