Introduction to Algorithm

Everyday algorithms

we have heard about algorithms in real life. Simply put, it is a step-by-step sequence of actions we need to perform to achieve a useful result. It can be an algorithm for cooking a sandwich described by a recipe or an algorithm for getting dressed according to today's weather and your mood. Among all algorithms, there is one special group called computer algorithms. These are ones that are usually created for and utilized by computers. In this topic, we will discuss in detail what computer algorithms are and will explain why it is important to learn them.

Algorithms for computers

Computer algorithms are everywhere around us. Our smartphone may guide us through a city from one point to another using a certain algorithm. Other algorithms can control the behavior of your enemies in a computer game. Services like Google or Yahoo apply sophisticated algorithms to provide you with the most relevant results when you use them to search for some information on the Web. Algorithms are also used to calculate the trajectory of rockets and they even help doctors to determine diagnoses correctly.

An important difference between real-life and computer algorithms is that a computer cannot guess what we want to do. If something goes wrong or an algorithm is not clear, a human can adjust the algorithm based on their experience. Computers cannot do the same. Thus, a computer algorithm must be described precisely and unambiguously.

Programs and algorithms

As we know, a program is a sequence of instructions to perform some tasks on a computer. The difference between programs and algorithms is that programs are written using a specific programming language while algorithms are usually described at a higher level than programming language statements. In other words, an algorithm is like an abstract schema, and a program can be its implementation.

The said above also means that algorithms are language-agnostic: one algorithm can be implemented using different programming languages. For example, we may use Java, Python, Kotlin, or other languages to implement the same algorithm.

Programming languages usually contain implementations of some basic algorithms for solving typical problems. These algorithms are provided in standard libraries and software developers can reuse them instead of implementing each time anew. However, to be able to use such algorithms correctly and efficiently, and to be able to understand how other developers use them, it is important to learn these basic algorithms and get familiar with how they work under the hood.

Algorithms from standard libraries cannot cover all possible problems developers can encounter. Thus, sometimes we will need to implement a solution for a problem ourselves from scratch. This is another reason why it is important to learn algorithms: we need to know which one when to apply and how to implement it efficiently.

Summary

An algorithm is a sequence of actions we need to perform to achieve a useful result. An important group of algorithms is computer algorithms: ones created for and utilized by computers. There are several reasons why it is important to learn computer algorithms:

  • software developers often encounter tasks of the same type while working on different projects. For such typical tasks, programming languages provide ready-to-use algorithms in standard libraries. To utilize these algorithms efficiently, we need to understand how they work under the hood.
  • sometimes you may encounter a problem that is impossible to solve using algorithms from standard libraries. In such cases, we need to implement an algorithm ourselves. To be able to do that, we need to know basic algorithmic approaches, their pros and cons, and which one to apply in a particular case.
  • often you need not only to write the code yourself but also to read the code written by other developers. If you want to understand the algorithms they might likely use, you need to know basic algorithms and algorithmic approaches as well.
  • implementing algorithms might help you to improve your programming skills.

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