Hybrid algorithmA hybrid algorithm is an algorithm that combines two or more other algorithms that solve the same problem, either choosing one based on some characteristic of the data, or switching between them over the course of the algorithm. This is generally done to combine desired features of each, so that the overall algorithm is better than the individual components. "Hybrid algorithm" does not refer to simply combining multiple algorithms to solve a different problem – many algorithms can be considered as combinations of simpler pieces – but only to combining algorithms that solve the same problem, but differ in other characteristics, notably performance.
Master theorem (analysis of algorithms)In the analysis of algorithms, the master theorem for divide-and-conquer recurrences provides an asymptotic analysis (using Big O notation) for recurrence relations of types that occur in the analysis of many divide and conquer algorithms. The approach was first presented by Jon Bentley, Dorothea Blostein (née Haken), and James B. Saxe in 1980, where it was described as a "unifying method" for solving such recurrences. The name "master theorem" was popularized by the widely-used algorithms textbook Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein.
Merge algorithmMerge algorithms are a family of algorithms that take multiple sorted lists as input and produce a single list as output, containing all the elements of the inputs lists in sorted order. These algorithms are used as subroutines in various sorting algorithms, most famously merge sort. The merge algorithm plays a critical role in the merge sort algorithm, a comparison-based sorting algorithm.
Sorted arrayA sorted array is an array data structure in which each element is sorted in numerical, alphabetical, or some other order, and placed at equally spaced addresses in computer memory. It is typically used in computer science to implement static lookup tables to hold multiple values which have the same data type. Sorting an array is useful in organising data in ordered form and recovering them rapidly. Sorted arrays are the most space-efficient data structure with the best locality of reference for sequentially stored data.
Patience sortingIn computer science, patience sorting is a sorting algorithm inspired by, and named after, the card game patience. A variant of the algorithm efficiently computes the length of a longest increasing subsequence in a given array. The algorithm's name derives from a simplified variant of the patience card game. The game begins with a shuffled deck of cards. The cards are dealt one by one into a sequence of piles on the table, according to the following rules. Initially, there are no piles.
Sequential accessSequential access is a term describing a group of elements (such as data in a memory array or a disk file or on magnetic-tape data storage) being accessed in a predetermined, ordered sequence. It is the opposite of random access, the ability to access an arbitrary element of a sequence as easily and efficiently as any other at any time. Sequential access is sometimes the only way of accessing the data, for example if it is on a tape. It may also be the access method of choice, for example if all that is wanted is to process a sequence of data elements in order.
K-d treeIn computer science, a k-d tree (short for k-dimensional tree) is a space-partitioning data structure for organizing points in a k-dimensional space. k-d trees are a useful data structure for several applications, such as searches involving a multidimensional search key (e.g. range searches and nearest neighbor searches) and creating point clouds. k-d trees are a special case of binary space partitioning trees. The k-d tree is a binary tree in which every node is a k-dimensional point.
Cache-oblivious algorithmIn computing, a cache-oblivious algorithm (or cache-transcendent algorithm) is an algorithm designed to take advantage of a processor cache without having the size of the cache (or the length of the cache lines, etc.) as an explicit parameter. An optimal cache-oblivious algorithm is a cache-oblivious algorithm that uses the cache optimally (in an asymptotic sense, ignoring constant factors). Thus, a cache-oblivious algorithm is designed to perform well, without modification, on multiple machines with different cache sizes, or for a memory hierarchy with different levels of cache having different sizes.
Bucket sortBucket sort, or bin sort, is a sorting algorithm that works by distributing the elements of an array into a number of buckets. Each bucket is then sorted individually, either using a different sorting algorithm, or by recursively applying the bucket sorting algorithm. It is a distribution sort, a generalization of pigeonhole sort that allows multiple keys per bucket, and is a cousin of radix sort in the most-to-least significant digit flavor. Bucket sort can be implemented with comparisons and therefore can also be considered a comparison sort algorithm.
Asymptotically optimal algorithmIn computer science, an algorithm is said to be asymptotically optimal if, roughly speaking, for large inputs it performs at worst a constant factor (independent of the input size) worse than the best possible algorithm. It is a term commonly encountered in computer science research as a result of widespread use of big-O notation. More formally, an algorithm is asymptotically optimal with respect to a particular resource if the problem has been proven to require Ω(f(n)) of that resource, and the algorithm has been proven to use only O(f(n)).
