Searching by elimination (Q920625)

The paper presents a strategy, called searching by elimination and two refinements symmetric linear search and left-to-right linear search, for solving an extremely general searching problem. When faced to a specific problem, these abstract schemes evolve in a natural neat way to correct programs. For example, for the basic and elementary problem of finding the maximum value in an array, a new and elegant algorithm is found. The presentation is very instructive for the systematic approach by which correct programs are derived from general abstract schemes.