A greedy algorithm follows the problem-solving heuristic of making the locally optimal choice (the best solution at the time) at each stage with the hope of finding a global optimum (global best solution). It does not evaluate the bigger picture like a dynamic programming algorithm does.
Let's take a look at how we can solve the min-coin change and knapsack problems we covered in the dynamic programming topic using the greedy approach.
Note
We covered some other greedy algorithms in this book in Chapter 9 , Graphs, such as Dijkstra's algorithm, Prim's algorithm, and Kruskal's algorithm.
The min-coin change problem can also be resolved with a greedy algorithm. Most of the time, the result is also optimal, but for some denominations, the result will not be optimal.
Let's take a look at the algorithm:
function MinCoinChange(coins){
var coins = coins; //{1}
this.makeChange = function(amount) {
var change = [],
...