Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Selecting Data for Experiments: Past, Present and Future

  • Conference paper
Experimental Algorithms (SEA 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 8504))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 1653 Accesses

Abstract

This essay describes three different contexts in which algorithm designers select input data on which to test their implementations. Selecting input data for past problems typically involves scholarship to assemble existing data and ingenuity to model it efficiently. Selecting data for present problems should be based on active discussions with users and careful study of existing data. Selecting data to model problems that may arise in the future is the most interesting and delicate of the tasks that we will consider.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Bentley, J.L.: Fast algorithms for geometric traveling salesman problems. ORSA J. Computing 4, 387–411 (1992)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Bentley, J.L., McIlroy, M.D.: Engineering a sort function. Software Pract. Exper. 23, 1249–1265 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bentley, J.L., McIlroy, M.D.: Data compression with long repeated strings. Inform. Sci. 135, 1–11 (2001)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. Bentley, J.L., Weide, B.W., Yao, A.C.: Optimal expected-time algorithms for closest point problems, Technical report CMU-CS-79-111. Carnegie-Mellon University Computer Science Department (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bentley, J.L., Weide, B.W., Yao, A.C.: Optimal expected-time algorithms for closest point problems. ACM Trans. Math. Software 6, 4 (1980)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. Chang, F., Dean, J., Ghemawat, S., Hsieh, W.C., Wallach, D.A., Burrows, M., Chandra, T., Fikes, A., Gruber, R.E., Bigtable: A distributed storage system for structured data. ACM Trans. Computer Systems 26, 2 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Hoare, C.A.R.: Quicksort. Computer J. 5, 10–15 (1962)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. McGeoch, C.C.: A Guide to Experimental Algorithmics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Wikipedia: BigTable (April 2014)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Avaya Labs Research, 211 Mount Airy Road, Basking Ridge, NJ, 07974, USA

    Jon Bentley

Authors
  1. Jon Bentley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of IT, University of Sydney, Building J12, 2006, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Joachim Gudmundsson

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, 2100, Copenhagen East, Denmark

    Jyrki Katajainen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Bentley, J. (2014). Selecting Data for Experiments: Past, Present and Future. In: Gudmundsson, J., Katajainen, J. (eds) Experimental Algorithms. SEA 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8504. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07959-2_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07959-2_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-07958-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-07959-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation