A named method or practice applied to solve a recurring problem in building or running software, narrower than a full algorithm and not tied to one specific data structure. Belongs here: Compiler, Dynamic Programming, Garbage Collection, Packet Switching, Public Key Cryptography, Recursion and Virtual Memory. Does not belong here: a fully specified, named step-by-step procedure with a known running time, filed under Algorithm, and a general style of structuring a whole program, filed under Paradigm.
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1. Wikipedia: Divide-and-conquer algorithm
WikipediaDivide-and-conquer algorithm, History sectionQuote, Divide-and-conquer algorithm, History section
While a clear description of the algorithm on computers appeared in 1946 in an article by John Mauchly, the idea of using a sorted list of items to facilitate searching dates back at least as far as Babylonia in 200 BC.
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