(algorithm)
Definition: A heuristic that moves the target of a search to the head of a list so it is found faster next time.
Generalization (I am a kind of ...)
Self-organising_heuristic [Wikipedia].
See also move-to-root heuristic, transpose sequential search, self-organizing list.
Note: This technique speeds up linear search performance only if the target item is likely to be searched for again soon.
Author: PEB
If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul Black.
Entry modified 23 December 2011.
HTML page formatted Mon Feb 2 13:10:40 2015.
Cite this as:
Paul E. Black, "move-to-front heuristic", in
Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Vreda Pieterse and Paul E. Black, eds. 23 December 2011. (accessed TODAY)
Available from: http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/movefront.html