Network Flows and Matching: First Dimacs Implementation Challenge

Interest has grown recently in the application of computational and statistical tools to problems in the analysis of algorithms. In many algorithmic domains worst-case bounds are too pessimistic and tractable probabilistic models too unrealistic to provide meaningful predictions of practical algorithmic performance. Experimental approaches can provide knowledge where purely analytical methods fail and can provide insights to motivate and guide deeper analytical results. The DIMACS Implementation Challenge was organized to encourage experimental work in the area of network flows and matchings. Participants at sites in the U.S., Europe, and Japan undertook projects between November 1990 and August 1991 to test and evaluate algorithms for these problems. The Challenge culminated in a three-day workshop held in October 1991 at DIMACS. This volume contains the revised and refereed versions of twenty-two of the papers presented at the workshop, along with supplemental material about the Challenge and the Workshop.