Keynote Talk: Algorithm Improvement: How Fast Has It Been and How Much Farther Can It Go?

Abstract

In this talk, I report on a large-scale census of algorithm improvement spanning 11 sub-fields of computer science, 57 textbooks and more than 1,100 research papers. Across 113 algorithm problems, we find enormous variation in how fast algorithms have improved. Around half experience little or no improvement. At the other extreme, 13% experience transformative improvements, radically changing how and where they can be used. Overall, we find that, for moderate-sized problems, 30% to 45% of algorithmic problems had improvements comparable or greater than those that users experienced from Moore's Law and other hardware advances. I will also discuss our comparison of the upper bounds and lower bounds for these algorithm problems, where we find that nearly two-thirds are already asymptomatically optimal --- representing a triumph for the field, but also a challenge for future progress.