An approach to classify algorithms by complexity

Abstract

This paper investigates computer algorithms complexity, which takes an important role in software design. An algorithm is a finite set of instructions, those if followed, accomplishes a particular task. It is not language specific; any language and symbolscan represent instructions. While complexity is usually in terms of time, sometimes complexity is also analyzed in terms of space, which translates to the algorithm's memory requirements. The paper gives an overview of the most widely used O notation. Experienced programmers can evaluate the time and memory complexity of a block of source code; however, this is not possible when the algorithm is available in the form of an executable. In this paper amethod is proposed to evaluate algorithms without havingthe source code. The potential drawbacks of the proposal are also considered.