title: Algorithm and script definition
body: <p>I hear the term algorithm use often and have been confused by the context I am seeing it in on this site sometimes so I thought I would try and clear up my understanding. </p>
  
  <p>To me an algorithm is some for of mathematical process such as this </p>
  
  <pre><code>uint UPDC16( unsigned char a, uint crc )
  {
      uint b,p;
      a^=crc; crc=(crc&gt;&gt;8)|(a&lt;&lt;8); p=a^(a&gt;&gt;4); p^=(p&gt;&gt;2); b=a; a&gt;&gt;=1;
      if( (p^(p&gt;&gt;1))&amp;1 ) { crc^=0x0001; a|=0x80; }
      if( b &amp; 1 ) crc^=0x0040; b=a; a^=(crc&gt;&gt;8);
      if( a &amp; 1 ) crc^=0x0080; a&gt;&gt;=1;
      if( b &amp; 0x80 ) a|=0x80;
      crc = (crc&amp;0x00ff)|(a&lt;&lt;8);
      return crc;
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Where as I thought that as this performed an action (rotating image) through nester if statments and not a mathmatical function it was not an algorithm but a function.</p>
  
  <pre><code>for (int block_x = 0; block_x &lt; 2048; block_x+=8)
   {
      for (int block_y = 0; blocky_y &lt; 2048; block_y+=8)
      { 
         // this is the inner-loop that processes a block
         // of 8x8 pixels.
         for (int x= 0; x&lt;8; x++)
           for (int y=0; y&lt;8; y++)
              dest[x+block_x][y+block_y] = src[y+block_y][x+block_x]
      }
   }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have googled it but I am looking for an experienced coders explanation. can anyone help explain algorithms to me ?</p>
  
  <p>The other thing that is bothering me is that I have seen the term "script it" several times and do not understand. I have heard there are scripting languages like lua (may be wrong). </p>
  
  <p>Do they mean to used these languages or is a "script" a special method of coding ?</p>
  
  <p>I mostly use c/c++ if this makes any difference.</p>