Mechanism vs Algorithm - What's the difference?
mechanism | algorithm |
Within a machine or machinery; any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power.
Any combination of cams, gears, links, belts, chains and logical mechanical elements.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
, author=(Henry Petroski)
, title=Opening Doors
, volume=100, issue=2, page=112-3
, magazine=
A group of objects or parts that interact together. (as in Political machine )
A mental, physical or chemical process.
(philosophy) A theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes.
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 )
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
, volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (archaic) Calculation with Arabic numerals; algorism.
As nouns the difference between mechanism and algorithm
is that mechanism is within a machine or machinery; any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power while 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.mechanism
English
Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism —known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.}}
Derived terms
* defense mechanism * reaction mechanismalgorithm
English
(wikipedia algorithm)Alternative forms
* algorism (obsolete)Noun
(en noun)- 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.
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.}}