Top four real algorithms that dominate our world

If you are an algorithm beginner, then you must be wondering who we can explain them, what are they and how they impact our society? In fact, algorithms are all around us, and they make the digital world functional. It is essential to mention that algorithms aren’t only used in computing sciences but they are a mathematical entity. They were first discovered in 1600 BC, but the modern use started around 1930s. In this article, we will explain the top four algorithms that rule the world and why without them our life wouldn’t be possible.

Merge sort, quick sort, and heap sort

What is the best algorithm to manage elements? It all depends on what you need, and that’s why we put the three more frequently used algorithms which are used to sort items. Maybe you have preferences, but three of them are equally good. The merge sort algorithm is one of the essential algorithms nowadays. It uses divide and conquers approach to solve problems. John von Neumann invented this algorithm in 1945. The quicksort has a different approach to sorting issues. It can use in-place partition algorithms, but the problem with them is that they aren’t stable sort, except for sorting RAM-based arrays. The last one is the heap sort which uses priority queue that decreases time in the data.

Fourier Transform and Fast Fourier Transform

Our entire digital world uses three simple, but very potent algorithms, which change signals form their time domain into their frequency domain and vice versa. In fact, you are seeing and reading this articles thanks to these algorithms. The internet, Wi-Fi connection, smartphones, PCs, satellites and other devices have a computer inside and use these algorithms to function, and you can’t get a degree in science without studying this type of algorithms.

Dijkstra’s algorithm

It is safe to say that internet wouldn’t be functional without this algorithm. This graph search algorithm is used in various applications and, in this case, the problem can be modeled and presented as a graph, and you have to find the shortest path between two nodes. Considering that science has advanced, and today we can use better solutions of finding the shortest route, but Dijkstra’s algorithm is still used because of its stability in systems which require it.

RSA algorithm

If there weren’t cryptography and cybersecurity, then the internet wouldn’t be as important as it is today. The security can be observed from different perspectives, you may think security in the era of NSA and other intelligence agencies or are you really that naïve to believe that you are safe on the Internet. People need to be safe to spend their money. After all, you wouldn’t fill out your credit card number on the web, if you know it’s not secure. In this case, RSA algorithm remains as the most important in the field of cryptography. It shapes who cryptography works, and it’s a solution to a simple, but also challenging problems.

Including Git Revision Identifiers in LaTeX

In the last couple of years, LaTeX software has become very popular for the production of technical and scientific documentation. This is a high-quality typesetting system which is available as free software. The majority of LaTeX source files are under the revision control system Git. Git is additional software, and it allows you to do many things, but keep in mind that Git doesn’t modify source files, while other systems do. For instance, you can ask Subversions to replace the placeholders $Revision in the committed source file with the latest revision number. This is a handy solution for presenting figures and dates in your LaTeX documents.

Git’s representatives often state that any type of modification of source file is pure evil. This feature is absent from Git, and every betokens moral corruption. In this case, the client’s program, which is LaTeX, is responsible for any modification and revision information in the output. Git only makes this information available, but it doesn’t change the source. Stephen Henning’s vc batch contains a number of scripts that extract modified information from different version control systems, involving Git, and make it available as LaTeX macros. In this case, we use vc.tex to take information and the primary LaTeX source file remains untouched by Git.

We have another rule, which might be interesting, and it involves running git code to produce vc.code. But, the hardest thing for people is to get the dependencies right, and we will break down this entire process. The input file vc.tex needs to be regenerated whenever it predates the last commit. If you have a good understanding of Git internals than the command that requires the modification of time .git/logs/HEAD, should provide you are the reliable timestamp for the last commit. You can make a rule for vc.tex depend on that. Considering this a cheap operation, you will be able to generate vc.tex anew every time you run pdf latex. Only, in this case, every move you make will recompile the source because the initial file vc.tex has changed. If you want to avoid this complication, then you should leave out vc.tex from dependencies for $(latexfile).pdf. So, when you commit, which changes the revision number and not source files, the process will not lead to an automatic recompile. In this case, the LaTeX document will only show newly revised information, whenever it’s edited after that revision.

LaTeX is a document preparation software for high-quality typesetting. It is commonly used for medium to large technical or scientific documents and can be used for any form of publishing. You need to keep in mind that LaTeX is not a word processing software and it won’t help you with the appearance. LaTeX focuses more on the right content and enables you to deliver accurate information. This software is based on the idea that document design is to be left to document designers, while authors should pay attention to writing and delivering high-quality content.