The Algorithm Design Manual

Product Information

It does ramble at times with personal anecdotes, which some readers may find enjoyable, but if you want to-the-point algorithms these may be a distraction.

But I found the text around it was written so you could skim the hard stuff, get the idea, and keep going. The second part, Resources , is intended for browsing and reference, and comprises the catalog of algorithmic resources, implementations and an extensive bibliography. The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena is aimed at two groups of people: students and professionals.

this book is suitable as a text for an undergraduate algorithms class, but also as an invaluable reference for the practicing programmer. The fact that this book focuses on working source code in examples (as opposed to just pseudo-code) makes it extremely useful for drilling for programming interviews. The reader-friendly Algorithm Design Manual provides straightforward access to combinatorial algorithms technology, stressing design over analysis. For a decade, Steven Skiena's Algorithm Design Manual retained its title as the best and most comprehensive practical algorithm guide to help identify and solve problems.

The second part, Resources, is intended for browsing and reference, and comprises the catalog of algorithmic resources, implementations and an extensive bibliography. A must read for any computer scientist, student or educator, who likes to invest more in ideas than the actual details. I've found that a lot of computer programming is easy if you just know the name of thing you need to Google.When you want to read a good introductory book about algorithms and data structures the choice comes down to two books: Introduction to Algorithms, Second Edition and this one.

It has all the right ingredients: rich contents, friendly, personal language, subtle humor, the right references, and a plethora of pointers to resources. Unlike other algorithm books that I have the algorithms are written independent of any programming language. There were some instances (graph algorithms) where the code in Skiena was taken straight out of CLRS. Coverage is divided into two parts, the first being a general guide to techniques for the design and analysis of computer algorithms.Expanding on the highly successful formula of the first edition, this book now serves as the primary textbook of choice for any algorithm design course while maintaining its status as the premier practical reference guide to algorithms. I found the "Hitchhiker's Guide to Algorithms" in the back to be extremely useful if you really find yourself tackling an algorithmic problem in practice.