Invitation to Local Algorithms

TL;DR

This paper introduces distributed local algorithms, highlighting their theoretical foundations, recent developments, and connections to various fields like parallel and distributed computing, providing a comprehensive overview of the area.

Contribution

It offers a structured overview of local algorithms, consolidating recent results and illustrating their relevance across multiple domains in computer science and mathematics.

Findings

Recent results unify local algorithms into a coherent theory

Connections to parallel, distributed, and sublinear algorithms are explored

The survey highlights the interdisciplinary relevance of local algorithms

Abstract

This text provides an introduction to distributed local algorithms -- an area at the intersection of theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics. We collect recent results in the area and demonstrate how they lead to a clean theory. We also discuss many connections of local algorithms to fields such as parallel, distributed, and sublinear algorithms, or descriptive combinatorics.