Large Problems, Small Machines: Transforming Your Programs with Advanced Algorithms

by Steve Heller

Large Problems, Small Transforming Your Programs with Advanced Algorithms describes a practical, real-world approach to program optimization based on advanced algorithms. Topics covered range from how to save storage using a restricted character set and how to speed up access to records by employing hash coding (or "scatter storage") and caching. A selective mailing list system is used to illustrate rapid access to and rearrangement of information selected by criteria specified at run-time. Comprised of six chapters, this book begins by discussing factors to consider when deciding whether a program needs optimization. In the next chapter, a supermarket price lookup system is used to illustrate how to save storage by using a restricted character set and how to speed up access to records with the aid of hash coding and caching. Attention is paid to rapid retrieval of prices. A selective mailing list system is then used to illustrate rapid access to and rearrangement of information selected by criteria specified at run-time. The book also considers the Huffman coding and arithmetic coding methods of data compression before concluding with a review of the characteristics of the algorithms encountered in previous chapters, as well as the future of the art of optimization. This monograph will be a useful resource for practicing computer programmers and those who intend to be working programmers.

253 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 31, 1992

About the author

Steve Heller (b. 1949) is a Texas-based programmer and author. He is best known for his books on C++, and particularly for his dialogical treatment of the language in his 2002 textbook C++: A Dialogue. Heller earned his bachelor's degree at Chicago's Shimer College, where he enrolled via early entrance. (from Shimer College Wiki)