On algorithm engineering

by Alexandre Francisco

Habilitation seminar and discussion.

Date: 2020-Dec-04   Time: 14:30
Room: Zoom

Abstract: The impact of algorithms and data structures in everyday software is
undeniable. We can find sophisticated and efficient algorithms and data
structures everywhere. But it is also true that there is a gap between
algorithm theory and engineering. Theoretical results assume often simple
models and provide general performance guarantees. In real applications, where
inputs are often biased and hardware diverges from theoretical models, things
do not always go as expected. Algorithm engineering addresses these issues,
bridging theory and practice. We present results for some problems and
applications where solutions implied non trivial algorithm engineering, with
theoretical and practical results being demonstrated. These problems arose
from several areas, from bioinformatics, computational biology and
microbiology to network science and the analysis of large graphs.