Algorithm LaTeX Standard

Publication-quality LaTeX pseudocode and matching TikZ flowcharts for academic papers.

Pseudocode Formats

Option A: Inline Bold-Enumerate (lightweight)

\vspace{2mm}
\noindent\textbf{Algorithm N: [Title]}
\begin{enumerate}
    \item \textbf{Input:} [describe inputs]
    \item \textbf{Initialize:} [setup steps]
    \item \textbf{Main Loop:} [core procedure]
    \begin{itemize}
        \item Step details with math: $formula$
    \end{itemize}
    \item \textbf{Output:} [what is returned]
\end{enumerate}

Option B: Formal Algorithm Environment

\begin{algorithm}[h!]
\caption{Algorithm Title}
\label{alg:name}
\begin{algorithmic}[1]
\REQUIRE Input description
\ENSURE Output description
\STATE Initialize variables
\FOR{each iteration}
    \STATE Compute step
\ENDFOR
\RETURN result
\end{algorithmic}
\end{algorithm}

Rule: Match the paper's existing algorithm style exactly. Never mix formats.

TikZ Flowchart Standard

Default Color Palette

% Section backgrounds
\definecolor{secBlue}{RGB}{214,230,245}
\definecolor{secYellow}{RGB}{255,243,205}
\definecolor{secGreen}{RGB}{218,238,218}
\definecolor{secPurple}{RGB}{228,220,240}

% Box fills
\definecolor{boxBlue}{RGB}{175,208,240}
\definecolor{boxYellow}{RGB}{248,228,160}
\definecolor{boxGreen}{RGB}{178,222,178}
\definecolor{boxPurple}{RGB}{198,182,218}
\definecolor{boxOrange}{RGB}{248,210,160}
\definecolor{boxGray}{RGB}{222,222,228}
\definecolor{accentGreen}{RGB}{200,232,200}

% Text and arrows
\definecolor{arrowC}{RGB}{75,75,75}
\definecolor{labelC}{RGB}{55,55,55}
\definecolor{noteC}{RGB}{120,120,130}

Node Styles

Style	Purpose	Key Properties
`stepbox`	Phase label (left column)	`draw=gray!55, fill=white, rounded corners=2pt, font=\sffamily\footnotesize\bfseries`
`mbox`	Main content box	`draw=gray!55, rounded corners=3pt, min-height=0.65cm, font=\sffamily\small`
`sbox`	Secondary box	`draw=gray!45, rounded corners=3pt, min-height=0.52cm, font=\sffamily\footnotesize`
`tbox`	Tertiary/detail box	`draw=gray!40, rounded corners=2pt, min-height=0.42cm, font=\sffamily\scriptsize`

Flowchart Layout

Organize as horizontal colored bands, one per algorithm phase:

+-------------------------------------------+
| [StepBox]  |  Phase 1 content             |  secBlue band
+-------------------------------------------+
| [StepBox]  |  Phase 2 content             |  secYellow band
|            |  [a] -> [b] -> [c]           |  parallel sub-steps
+-------------------------------------------+
| [StepBox]  |  Phase 3 content             |  secGreen band
+-------------------------------------------+
| [StepBox]  |  Phase 4 content             |  secPurple band
+-------------------------------------------+

Rules

Style matching: If the paper has existing flowcharts, reuse their colors, node styles, and layout grid exactly
Left column: Step labels in stepbox style ("Input", "Loop", "Solve", "Eval")
Main area: Boxes with formulas connected by arrows
Key equations: Use \displaystyle and accentGreen background for emphasis
Feedback loops: Dashed arrows only
Notes: Small gray text (\sffamily\scriptsize, text=noteC) for implementation details
Font: \sffamily throughout TikZ for clean sans-serif
Document class: \documentclass[border=6pt]{standalone} for auto-cropping
Max boxes per band: 7 (split into sub-bands if more)

Compilation

# Compile standalone flowchart
cd figures/ && pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode flowchart.tex

# Convert to PNG for preview
gs -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=png16m -r200 \
   -sOutputFile=flowchart.png flowchart.pdf

# Include in paper
\includegraphics[width=0.95\textwidth]{figures/flowchart.pdf}

Cross-Reference Checklist

When inserting or renumbering algorithms:

Search all Algorithm~N references in the paper
Update captions, figure captions, conclusion text
Compile twice to resolve all references

Algorithm LaTeX Standard — Pseudocode + TikZ