This article was automatically translated from the original Turkish version.
Peace be upon you,
Today, I’m writing to you amidst the rush of visa week. Our topic is algorithms. When I realized I couldn’t navigate this on my own, I wanted to share it with you—perhaps together we can find a solution.
Let’s begin with a bit of imagination. Literally, the word algorithm means “a designed path to solve a specific problem or achieve a particular goal.” When you think about it, we all construct algorithms in our daily lives. Isn’t every method we devise to resolve a problem essentially an algorithm?
But when you move into the realm of software, things take a different turn. Here, the problems are not of the kind we’re familiar with, and the solutions are not the ones we know. For instance, even to sort a list from smallest to largest, numerous different methods have been developed. And as you try to understand these methods, you suddenly find yourself in an entirely different world.
A valid question might occur to someone unfamiliar with software:
“What good is sorting a list to you?”
If we shift our perspective slightly, we see that much of life consists of data. And the way to organize this life lies in processing that data.
Sorting prices, filtering results, placing a coffee order—all of these are operations derived from data. Imagine if databases vanished overnight… What would remain of social media or the very meaning of software today?
We’ll delve into data in detail another day, but today, let’s reflect on the algorithm at the heart of working with data.
Because an algorithm is not merely a “solution in code.” There is an algorithm in life itself. Every problem, every dead end, every blocked path has a solution—a method.
I have always believed that everything has a way.
Sometimes we simply haven’t discovered it yet.
Just as I haven’t yet found the right algorithm for studying for these exams.
But I will find it. Because this too is a problem, and therefore it must have an algorithm.
