The 7th Workshop on Approximation and Online Algorithms (WAOA 2009) focused on the design and analysis of algorithms for online and computationally hard problems. Both kinds of problems have a large number of applications from a variety of fields. WAOA 2009 took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, during September 10–11, 2009. The workshop was part of the ALGO 2009 event that also hosted ESA 2009, IWPEC 2009, and ATMOS 2009. The previous WAOA workshops were held in Budapest (2003), Rome (2004), Palma de Mallorca (2005), Zurich (2006), Eilat (2007), and Karlsruhe (2008). The proceedings of these previousWAOA workshops have appeared as LNCS volumes 2909, 3351, 3879, 4368, 4927, and 5426, respectively.
Topics of interest for WAOA 2009 were: algorithmic game theory, approximation classes, coloring and partitioning, competitive analysis, computational finance, cuts and connectivity, geometric problems, inapproximability results, mechanism design, network design, packing and covering, paradigms for design and analysis of approximation and online algorithms, parameterized complexity, randomization techniques, real-world applications, and scheduling problems.
In response to the call for papers, we received 62 submissions. Each submission was reviewed by at least three referees, and the vast majority by at least four referees. The submissions were mainly judged on originality, technical quality, and relevance to the topics of the conference. Based on the reviews, the Program Committee selected 22 papers.
We are grateful to Andrei Voronkov for providing the EasyChair conference system, which was used to manage the electronic submissions, the review process, and the electronic PC meeting. It made our task much easier. We would also like to thank all the authors who submitted papers to WAOA 2009 as well as the local organizers of ALGO 2009.