Guest Editors´ Introduction: Algorithms and Today´s Practitioner

Enormous advances in computing power and programming environments have obscured the importance of algorithms, one of the foundational pillars of software engineering. Today, even university curricula too often pay only lip service to the teaching of algorithmic fundamentals, reinforcing the popular belief that their place at the core of a software engineer´s education is past. Yet even today, the importance of algorithms in software engineering has not diminished, and the effects of neglect are evident everywhere in needlessly inefficient industrial applications. The study of algorithms must regain its rightful place of central importance in the everyday work of today´s practitioner.