Algorithms section policy
would lack the testing, simplification and good style worthy of good scientific contributions. To speak in less academic terms, either the computation would be too trivial to publish, or it probably just would not work well. To repeat, the preparation of an algorithm is an important piece of research. Like all good research, its publication is the end result of a long process involving a bright idea or two, a lot of development, a lot of attention to explaining it clearly, and a lot of sweat. Most amateur algorithm writers, like most amateur scientists, seem to think that an algorithm is ready for publication at the point where a professional should realize that the hard and tedious work is just beginning. From the above, I conclude that the choice of a particular programming language for publication of an algorithm is not a large factor,, in the development of an algorithm. The amount of work to translate an algorithm from one language to another is a very small part of the total contribution of the algorithm. The total useful information contained in a first class algoritlm~-say Wilkinson's Householder ALGOL 60 eigenvalue package in Numerische Mathe-matik-is so great that its translation front ALGOL 60 into, say, FORTRAN IV is simply a trivial addition to what would be required to rediscover everything Wilkinson put into that algorithm. Nevertheless, the language in which an algorithm is published has some importance, and we have to make choices. What arc the desirable features of a publication language for scientific algorithms? (1) Above all, the language nmst be easily read and understood by human beings. Usually an algorithm must be translated , if only into the local dialect of the publication language. More often it must be altered to adapt it to a varied problem. (2) The language must be easy to repro-duee in the intended form of publication. If it is composed in a print shop, then the copy must be easy to edit for mathematical It is the aim of the CACM Algorithms section to publish interesting algorithms of good quality which are likely to be useful to others. Unfortunately, few of the published algorithms satisfy Professor For-sythe's criteria for excellence, yet at the same time the Algorithms Section does not wish to restrict itself to publishing only such high quality algorithms. On the other hand, it is important to avoid publishing trivial algorithms, such …