What are various algorithm strategies in programming?

Question

While I write an algorithm, I may not come know that this is some special kind of algorithm strategy which is developed earlier and named as xxxx or whatever.

I'll try to illustrate my point: Brute-force search or exhaustive search, also known as generate and test, is a trivial but very general problem-solving technique that consists of systematically enumerating all possible candidates for the solution and checking whether each candidate satisfies the problem's statement.-By wikipedia.

There must be such algorithmic strategies which are being used or at least known to you.

Please share such strategies if you know some.(And if you think it is worth sharing :)

EDIT -I'm adding something more to the question after its not a "real question" as suggested by some of you. As MAK and Nali4Freedom are suggesting, I am looking forward for some suggestions for good algorithm books.

So,what good algorithm books you would suggest?

(Still you can suggest some really good algorithmic strategies,though)

Answer 1

Divide and Conquer is a very common and useful technique, merge sort being a good example. Dynamic Programming is another very useful one for problems that can be simplified into a series of sub-problems. I would suggest getting a good book on algorithms to really learn algorithm techniques well. I used this in my algorithms class and thought it was pretty good.

Answer 2

See Knuth.

Answer 3

Stop looking for a big list of algorithms. Its like asking for a list of all ideas anyone's ever had. Your best bet is to study a good book on algorithms. I would recommend Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen et. al. (frequently simply referred to as CLRS), but any good algorithms book should get you started.

Answer 4

See for example the wikipedia Algorithm - By design paradigm entry.

Answer 5

"Introduction to Algorithms" was the textbook for my senior university course on Algorithm Design & Analysis which would have some more ideas possibly.

Answer 6

• Divide and Conquer
• Dynamic Programming
• Monte Carlo

Will probably give you a decent set of methods for solving any problem. There isn't much benefit in providing a finer grained list.

Answer 7

You could also check out Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing by David Harel and Yishai Feldman.