Small thank you to Alan Turing for making this a mathematical possibility.
Also available in one form or another in video games, flash animations,java scripts, php.

I think they're fantastic but some people do them an injustice when they use them to avoid dealing with people.

@ljsdesign:
I always thought an algorithm was when paranoids or denialists try to make scapegoats of other people, for example seeking out someone to blame for realities they'd rather not confront, by claiming there must be a conspiracy afoot or by accusing them of having ulterior motives, etc... like with climate change! So they can blame the messenger, instead of facing the inconvenient truth. You know...Al-Gore-ithms? *LOOOL*

Just kidding. I know that they're just little bits of computer code.

Gawd, I crack me up sometimes.