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Algorithm vs Application - What's the difference?

algorithm | application |

As nouns the difference between algorithm and application

is that algorithm is a precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps while application is the act of applying or laying on, in a literal sense; as, the application of emollients to a diseased limb.

algorithm

Alternative forms

* algorism (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps.
  • * 1990 , Cormen, Leiserson, and Rivest, Introduction to Algorithms'': page 1. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 1999 (''23rd printing )
  • Informally, an algorithm''''' is any well-defined computational procedure that takes some value, or set of values, as input and produces some value, or set of values, as output. An ' algorithm is thus a sequence of computational steps that transform the input into the output.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
  • , volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= How algorithms rule the world , passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.}}
  • (archaic) Calculation with Arabic numerals; algorism.
  • Hyponyms

    (hyp-top) * approximation algorithm * checksum algorithm * classification algorithm * compression algorithm * computer arithmetic algorithm * distributed algorithm * divide and conquer algorithm (hyp-mid) * genetic algorithm * greedy algorithm * parallel algorithm * randomized algorithm * randomized algorithm * semi-algorithm * sequential algorithm (hyp-bottom)

    Usage notes

    * Though some technical definitions require that an algorithm always terminate in a finite number of steps, this distinction is not generally observed in practice.

    See also

    * data structure * function * program

    application

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of applying or laying on, in a literal sense; as, the application of emollients to a diseased limb.
  • The thing applied.
  • * Johnson
  • He invented a new application by which blood might be stanched.
  • * 1857 , John Eadie, ?John Francis Waller, ?William John Macquorn Rankine, The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography
  • His body was stripped, laid out upon a table, and covered with a hearsecloth, when some of his attendants perceived symptoms of returning animation, and by the use of warm applications , internal and external, gradually restored him to life.
  • The act of applying as a means; the employment of means to accomplish an end; specific use.
  • * (John Locke)
  • If a right course be taken with children, there will not be much need of the application of the common rewards and punishments.
  • The act of directing or referring something to a particular case, to discover or illustrate agreement or disagreement, fitness, or correspondence.
  • I make the remark, and leave you to make the '''application .
    The application of a theory to a set of data can be challenging.
  • (computing) A computer program or the set of software that the end user perceives as a single entity as a tool for a well-defined purpose. (Also called: application program; application software.)
  • This iPhone application can connect to most social networks.
  • A verbal or written request for assistance or employment or admission to a school.
  • December 31 is the deadline for MBA applications .
  • (bureaucracy, legal) A petition, entreaty, or other request.
  • Their application for a deferral of the hearing was granted.

    Hyponyms

    * See also

    Synonyms

    * (computer software) software, program

    References

    * WordNet 3.0 [http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=application]. ----