What is an Algorithm?
An algorithm is a finite set of instructions or logic, written in order, to accomplish a certain predefined task. The algorithm is not the complete code or program, it is just the core logic(solution) of a problem, which can be expressed either as an informal high-level description as pseudo code or using a flowchart.
Every Algorithm must satisfy the following properties:
- Input- There should be 0 or more inputs supplied externally to the algorithm.
- Output- There should be at least 1 output obtained.
- Definiteness- Every step of the algorithm should be clear and well defined.
- Finiteness- The algorithm should have a finite number of steps.
- Correctness- Every step of the algorithm must generate a correct output.
An algorithm is said to be efficient and fast if it takes less time to execute and consumes less memory space. The performance of an algorithm is measured on the basis of the following properties :
- Time Complexity
- Space Complexity
Space Complexity
Its the amount of memory space required by the algorithm, during the course of its execution. Space complexity must be taken seriously for multi-user systems and in situations where limited memory is available.
An algorithm generally requires space for following components :
- Instruction Space: Its the space required to store the executable version of the program. This space is fixed, but varies depending upon the number of lines of code in the program.
- Data Space: Its the space required to store all the constants and variables(including temporary variables) value.
- Environment Space: Its the space required to store the environment information needed to resume the suspended function.
Time Complexity
Time Complexity is a way to represent the amount of time required by the program to run till its completion. It's generally a good practice to try to keep the time required minimum, so that our algorithm completes it's execution in the minimum time possible.
NOTE: Before going deep into data structure, you should have a good knowledge of programming either in C or in C++ or Java or Python etc.
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