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Computing and digital systems

13,604 articles

General

Algebraic effect

An algebraic effect is a computational effect, such as state or exceptions, represented by operations and equations and handled by a resumable handler, introduced in 2002.

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Algebraic multigrid

Algebraic multigrid (AMG) is a multilevel iterative method for solving large sparse linear systems, building its coarse levels from matrix entries alone, first published in 1982.

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Algebraic reconstruction technique

The algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) is an iterative algorithm that reconstructs CT images from projection data by solving linear equations one ray at a time, reported in 1970 and useful for limited-angle, sparse, or noisy data.

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ALGOL

ALGOL, short for Algorithmic Language, is a family of programming languages for scientific computation spanning ALGOL 58, ALGOL 60, and ALGOL 68. Though commercially limited outside Europe, its ideas shaped nearly every later procedural language.

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ALGOL 58

ALGOL 58, originally named the International Algebraic Language (IAL), is an algorithmic programming language defined by a joint ACM-GAMM committee at a 1958 conference in Zurich.

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ALGOL 60

ALGOL 60 is an algorithmic programming language defined in a May 1960 report edited by Peter Naur, which introduced block structure, lexical scoping, and recursive procedures.

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ALGOL 68

ALGOL 68 is a programming language designed by IFIP Working Group 2.1 in the late 1960s, built on orthogonality and the first major language formally defined before implementation.

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Algolia

Algolia is a search-as-a-service company founded in Paris in 2012 by Nicolas Dessaigne and Julien Lemoine, providing an API for building fast, typo-tolerant search for websites and mobile apps.

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Algorithm

An algorithm is a finite, clearly specified set of rules or steps for carrying out a computation that produces a prescribed result for any input in a class of inputs.

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Algorithmic Accountability Act

The Algorithmic Accountability Act is a recurring US congressional bill, first introduced by Senator Ron Wyden in 2019, that would direct the FTC to require impact assessments of automated decision systems.

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Algorithmic bias

Algorithmic bias, also called machine learning bias, is a systematic error in a computational decision system that disadvantages unprivileged groups, often without discriminatory intent, as in the 2016 COMPAS case.

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Algorithmic self-assembly of DNA

Algorithmic self-assembly of DNA is a molecular programming technique, founded on Erik Winfree's 1998 Caltech thesis, in which DNA tiles with designed binding rules grow into crystals that compute.

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Algorithmic stability

Algorithmic stability is a machine learning property where a learning algorithm's output and loss change little when one training example is changed, providing generalization bounds independent of hypothesis space complexity.

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Algorithms on special graph classes

Algorithms on special graph classes solve hard graph problems efficiently by exploiting structural restrictions such as chordal, perfect, or bounded-treewidth graphs, turning NP-complete tasks into linear-time ones.

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Alias analysis

Alias analysis, also called pointer analysis, is a class of compiler techniques that determine whether two pointers can point to the same memory object, enabling optimizations like dead store elimination.

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Aliasing

Aliasing is the distortion that occurs when a signal is sampled at too low a rate, so high frequencies appear as spurious lower frequencies in the reconstruction.

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Alibaba Cloud (阿里云)

Alibaba Cloud, also known as Aliyun (阿里云), is the cloud computing and AI subsidiary of Alibaba Group, founded in 2009. It is China's largest cloud provider by market share.

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Alibaba Qwen and Tongyi unit

The Alibaba Qwen and Tongyi unit, known as Tongyi Lab and now Alibaba Token Hub, is Alibaba Group's AI division that develops the Qwen foundation models and Tongyi products.

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Alibaba T-Head (平头哥半导体)

Alibaba T-Head (平头哥半导体), also known as T-Head Semiconductor, is Alibaba Group's semiconductor design subsidiary in Shanghai, founded in 2018, known for its Hanguang 800 AI chip and Zhenwu accelerators.

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ALiBi

ALiBi (Attention with Linear Biases) is a positional encoding method for transformer language models that adds a linear distance penalty to attention scores, letting models trained on short sequences run on longer ones.

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Alice AI (AI model family)

Alice AI (Алиса AI) is a family of generative artificial intelligence models developed by Yandex, introduced on October 28, 2025, to power its Alice assistant and other services.

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Alice and Bob

Alice and Bob are fictional placeholder names for the two communicating parties in cryptographic protocols, introduced by Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman in their 1978 RSA paper.

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Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is a 2026 cooperative third-person survival shooter by Cold Iron Studios and the sequel to Aliens: Fireteam Elite, with four-player Colonial Marine squads fighting Xenomorphs.

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Alienware

Alienware is a gaming computer brand owned by Dell Technologies, founded in 1996 in Miami, Florida, and known for high-end, build-to-order gaming desktops and laptops with distinctive design.

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AliExpress (全球速卖通)

AliExpress, also known as 全球速卖通, is a global online retail marketplace owned by Alibaba Group that connects mostly China-based sellers with consumers in over 200 countries.

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Aligned transfer of 2D semiconductors

Aligned transfer of 2D semiconductors covers fabrication techniques that detach atomically thin films such as MoS₂ from their growth substrate and place them, aligned, onto device substrates.

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Alignment faking

Alignment faking is AI behavior where a model complies with its training objective when monitored to preserve its existing preferences elsewhere, first demonstrated by Anthropic in 2024.

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Alignment tax

The alignment tax is the capability a language model loses, or the extra effort a developer spends, as a result of alignment and safety training.

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ALIGNN

ALIGNN is a graph neural network introduced in 2021 that predicts properties of molecules and crystals by explicitly encoding bond angles, as part of NIST's JARVIS project.

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Alisa (Алиса) (Yandex assistant)

Alisa (Алиса) is Yandex's voice-and-chat virtual assistant, rebuilt from 2023 as a generative AI assistant powered by YandexGPT and, since October 2025, the Alice AI model family.