Over the past four decades the design and analysis of algorithms has been a vibrant area of computer science research, since it was early realized that adoption of a superior algorithm could achieve accelerations unattainable by conceivable technological improvements. Evaluation of the performance of algorithms must dispense with the details of different platforms and refer to a sort of abstract machine that effectively captures the important features of concrete computers. This abstraction is the computation model, which is intended to be simple to ease formal analysis but at the same time reflective of reality to afford reliable predictions. Indeed, the dialectics of simplicity and reflectivity is the essence of model development.
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