NP-Completeness: A Retrospective

For a quarter of a century now, NP-completeness has been computer science's favorite paradigm, fad, punching bag, buzzword, alibi, and intellectual export. This paper is a fragmentary commentary on its origins, its nature, its impact, and on the attributes that have made it so pervasive and contagious.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1997
• Where: ICALP
• Authors: Christos H. Papadimitriou
• Keywords: ICALP 1997, Intellectual Export, Programming Languages, Punching Bag, Science's Favorite Paradigm