09 April 2005
Sort the Google query keywords by frequency using a worst-case O(n) algorithm By Eric Lippert
Let me start today by giving you all a quick refresher on what we mean by the "order" of an algorithm. Suppose you have a problem where the input can vary in size in some way. For example, consider the problem "find the average of an array of numbers". That's a pretty easy problem to solve:
Total = 0
For curNum = LBound(List) To UBound(List)
Total = Total + List(curNum)
Next
Average = Total / (UBound(List) - LBound(List) + 1)
Read more on Eric's blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/ericlippert/archive/2004/5/12.aspx