We first describe three algorithms for computing the Lyndon array that have
been suggested in the literature, but for which no structured exposition has
been given. Two of these algorithms execute in quadratic time in the worst
case, the third achieves linear time, but at the expense of prior computation
of both the suffix array and the inverse suffix array of x. We then go on to
describe two variants of a new algorithm that avoids prior computation of
global data structures and executes in worst-case n log n time. Experimental
evidence suggests that all but one of these five algorithms require only linear
execution time in practice, with the two new algorithms faster by a small
factor. We conjecture that there exists a fast and worst-case linear-time
algorithm to compute the Lyndon array that is also elementary (making no use of
global data structures such as the suffix array)