Hi,
The breakdown of the pros and cons are below, but think about it this way. If you loose your keys, you can either search the entire house (brute force) and empty every drawer, cupboard, and cabinet...or you can retrace your steps and check the most logical places first (greedy). You might not find them the greedy way, but if you have some idea of what the solution should be, it's usually best to try first.
Hope that helps,
Matt
Bruce-force Algorithm
Solves a problem in the most simple, direct, or obvious way
• does not take advantage of structure or pattern in the problem
• usually involves exhaustive search of the solution space
• pro: often simple to implement
• con: usually not the most efficient way
Greedy Approach
Algorithm decides what is the best thing to do at each step
(local maxima), and never reconsiders its decisions
• pro: may run significantly faster than brute-force
• con: may not lead to the optimal (or even correct) solution (global maxima) Usually requires some initial pre-computation to set up the problem, to
take advantage of special structure/pattern in the problem or solution
space