0% found this document useful (0 votes)

28 views

Phyton Programming - Tutorialspoint

The document discusses algorithms including their definition, characteristics, how to write them, and provides an example. An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure to solve a problem and get the desired output. Important categories of algorithms are search, sort, insert, update and delete. An algorithm should be unambiguous, have inputs, outputs, be finite, feasible and independent of programming language.

Uploaded by

sb8951928

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

28 views

Phyton Programming - Tutorialspoint

Uploaded by

sb8951928

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 4

Python - Algorithm Design

Algorithm is a step-by-step procedure, which

defines a set of instructions to be executed in a
certain order to get the desired output.
Algorithms are generally created independent
of underlying languages, i.e. an algorithm can
be implemented in more than one
programming language.

From the data structure point of view,

following are some important categories of
algorithms −

Search − Algorithm to search an item in a

data structure.

Sort − Algorithm to sort items in a certain

order.

Insert − Algorithm to insert item in a data

structure.
Update − Algorithm to update an existing
item in a data structure.

Delete − Algorithm to delete an existing

item from a data structure.

Characteristics of an
Algorithm
Not all procedures can be called an algorithm.
An algorithm should have the following
characteristics −

Unambiguous − Algorithm should be clear

and unambiguous. Each of its steps (or
phases), and their inputs/outputs should
be clear and must lead to only one
meaning.

Input − An algorithm should have 0 or

more well-defined inputs.

Output − An algorithm should have 1 or

more well-defined outputs, and should
match the desired output.

Finiteness − Algorithms must terminate

after a finite number of steps.

Feasibility − Should be feasible with the

available resources.

Independent − An algorithm should have

step-by-step directions, which should be
independent of any programming code.

How to Write an Algorithm?

There are no well-defined standards for
writing algorithms. Rather, it is problem and
resource dependent. Algorithms are never
written to support a particular programming
code.

As we know that all programming languages

share basic code constructs like loops (do, for,
while), flow-control (if-else), etc. These
common constructs can be used to write an
algorithm.

We write algorithms in a step-by-step manner,

but it is not always the case. Algorithm writing
is a process and is executed after the problem
domain is well-defined. That is, we should
know the problem domain, for which we are
designing a solution.

Example
Let's try to learn algorithm-writing by using an
example.

Problem − Design an algorithm to add two

numbers and display the result.

step 1 − START

step 2 − declare three integers a, b & c

step 3 − define values of a & b

step 4 − add values of a & b

step 5 − store output of step 4 to c

step 6 − print c

step 7 − STOP

Algorithms tell the programmers how to code

the program. Alternatively, the algorithm can
be written as −

step 1 − START ADD

step 2 − get values of a & b

step 3 − c ←a+b
step 4 − display c

step 5 − STOP

In design and analysis of algorithms, usually

the second method is used to describe an
algorithm. It makes it easy for the analyst to
analyze the algorithm ignoring all unwanted
definitions. He can observe what operations
are being used and how the process is flowing.