For me algorithm is simply an explanation/strategy of a list of steps needed to implement some logic and/or solve some problem. IMO it can even be a paper with

For me algorithm is simply an explanation/strategy of a list of steps needed to implement some logic and/or solve some problem. IMO it can even be a paper with IKEA instructions how to assemble a desk. Might not seem so, but if you'd tried to program a robot to do it, you'd probably call those steps the desk building algorithm. However I wouldn't call every css selector an algorithm on its own, just like print() function is not an algorithm - but if we have a routine to print say only odd numbers, that is definitely the (very simple) algorithm. Equally if you come up with a recipe how to combine css selectors into a series of rules to select e.g. N particular elements in an arbitrary list of DOM nodes, in my mind it's the full-blown algorithm too. Just my $.02 of course...