Re: A clear difference between algorithm and a pattern

From: Donald Roby (droby_at_babsoncourt.com)
Date: 01/22/04 

Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 01:37:47 GMT

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 11:54:23 +0000, Jason wrote:

>
> "Ravi Shankar" <sujashankar@pacific.net.sg> wrote in message
> news:buj978$eeq$1@nobel2.pacific.net.sg...
> ...
>> Can anyone please give me a precise distinction between an algorithm and a
>> pattern?
>>
>> When I want to have a single instance, I use "Singleton". Similarly when I
>> want to sort some numbers I use "QuickSort" algorithm.
>>
>> Pattern is a quality without a name and is "reusable idea". Algorithm too
> is
>> a reusable idea.
> ...
> I don't know about precise.
>
> Algorithm is from latin I think, which roughly means (amongst other things)
> a stepwise method of doing something. An algorithm gives a method (often
> stepwise), it doesn't say how to solve a problem.
>
No. It's from an Arabic name. As such, there's no particular etymologic
meaning at all. But in common usage, it describes a rote procedure for
solving a specific problem.

> Patterns are, if you will, more like a tactic, or strategy (a plan...). They
> are ways of solving problems that crop up often. And a pattern can be used
> to solve many different problems - if the pattern 'fits'.

More like an idiom than an algorithm, but less language-specific than an
idiom.

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