Recursive elimination current algorithms and a distributed computing scheme to accelerate wrapper feature selection

•A new reflection on the relationship between feature selection problems and search algorithms within the limitations of the NFL theorems.•A novel set of algorithms for wrapper feature selection based on the recursion technique.•An asynchronous distributed computing scheme to accelerate processing speed for wrapper feature selection.•Non-parametric and adaptive search algorithms to handle wrapper feature selection problems with high-performance efficiency and scalability.