(definition)
Definition: The resources an algorithm used to find an answer. It is usually measured in terms of the theoretical computations, such as comparisons or data moves, the memory used, the number of messages passed, the number of disk accesses, etc.
See also big-O notation, best case, worst case, average case.
Author: PEB
If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul E. Black.
Entry modified 17 December 2004.
HTML page formatted Fri Mar 25 16:20:34 2011.
Cite this as:
Paul E. Black, "efficiency", in
Dictionary of Algorithms and Data
Structures [online], Paul E. Black, ed.,
U.S. National Institute of
Standards and Technology. 17 December 2004. (accessed TODAY)
Available from: http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/efficiency.html
