A Dynamic Programming Approach for Timing and Designing Clique Algorithms

Traditionally, practical clique algorithms have been compared based on their performance on various random graphs. We propose a new testing methodology which permits testing to be completed in a fraction of the time required by previous methods. In addition, the range of testing can be extended to include problems that could not be attempted in the past because of being too time consuming. We accomplish this by applying the approach that makes dynamic programming a very effective algorithmic technique: we use tabulated estimates for the time required to solve subproblems rather than timing each exactly. Our computational experiments validate this approach. The next step is to use this workbench to develop fast new algorithms for the maximum clique problem. A mixed algorithm is an algorithm which applies different strategies for the subproblems that arise. Using the dynamic programming approach again for timing, we mechanize the process of developing table driven algorithms which apply ..