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Summary: Useful resource!
Review: In my line of work I am, many times, in need of some algorithm or resource to do some job. Sure I learned many during my B.Sc. studies, and during my work, but some are hard to remember, and some I never knew - and sometimes you just need to know how to call the problem in order to locate resources about it from the internet.Well - this book solves it all! One part contains "war stories", which I found very useful, and amusing - After reading them I felt like I learned many lessons. The second part, which is the reason I bought this book at the first place, is a very impressive catalog of algorithms and problems - you just need to know something about the problem you need to solve, and most probably, your problem will be described here with clear definitions, and some suggested algorithms for solutions and with resources from other books/articles and web resources. I tell you - so many times this book was the first and only stop in my persue of finding the algorithm I needed. I'd recommend this book to anyone studying and working with algorithms. This is a must in your bookshelf - even more - it's a must on your table!
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Summary: Application of Sorting
Review: Newt Gingrich is given the job of partitioning
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Summary: A very practical reference in designing algorithm
Review: Nice to have this book handy if you need to design efficient algorithms for your programs. This is more of a reference than to teach you what algorithms are out there, so you better know them before using this book. That said, this book is quite unique since it differs from a typical algorithm book on the market. Skiena has done a great job in presenting the material. I find this book really handy, definately recommanded.
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Summary: Cliff's Notes for Algorithms... and more
Review: The book's strength lies in its rapid presentation and further links. For a question on a deterministic algorithm, I'd check this first to freshen up and then go to Cormen, Liverson and Rivest. The CD ROM included makes me wish I had Mr. Skeina as a professor as he is obviously excellent at his trade.
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Summary: The hitch-hiker's guide to Algorithms.
Review: The Catalog was my main reason for buying the book. It's an invaluable reference base for people whose boss 'needs an answer by tomorrow'. + : The War Stories are fun reading, and do a good job of explaining how theory relates to practice. - : Restating the obvious at times, while deliberately vague elsewhere. Net : if you use a greedy heuristic to select your reading, this book probably comes ahead of the pack.
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Summary: straightforward
Review: There are lots of books out there which will tell you how search methods and heuristics work, but don't give you a single clue on how to write the code. This book helps you with a lot of questions that's on your mind. Besides, the catalog of algorithmic problems is surely a good idea.
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Summary: Covers an Important Middle Ground
Review: This book fills a nice niche -- it is practical enough to be useful and accesible to professional programmers (rather than algorithms researchers or academics) but is build on solid theory as well. Aside from this, the book has several features to recommend it:
(1) There are "war stories" scattered throughout the text. These are special sections that describe the author's experience working with algorithmic problems "in the field". These are particularly interesting because the present false starts and failures along the way to the final solution. This is a nice change from the standard model of simply presenting algorithms and proving them correct. (2) Unlike others, such as the popular Cormen, Lieserson, Rivest and Stein text -- which is a bit advanced for beginning study -- this really is an introduction to algorithms. It is quite suitable for, say, undergradutes who have taken a couple of basic CS courses. (3) Chapter 8 is a 250-page "Catalog of Algorithmic Problems". Here, you will find descriptions of hundreds of standard formulations for algorithmic problems along with the basic solution approaches, and -- this is what really sets it apart -- pointers to implementations of these algorithms. This is part of the overall emphasis of the book: that of understanding standard algorithms in order to avoid "reinventing the wheel". Overall, I recommend this book for people with some programming experience that would like to take their work to the next level. Hardcore computer scientists (especially those with a more theoretical bent) may also benefit from this book, but should consider it a supplement to one of the more advanced texts, such as the above-mentioned CLRS.
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Summary: Quite a useful repository of algorithms
Review: This book has some excellent information about writing and selecting algorithms, step by step, as well as plenty of pointers to outside information. Chapter 8 in particular is an invaluable reference for quickly implementing a solution to any of many varied problems. However, the textual explanations are sometimes confusing, with significant "jumps" between concepts that could throw off the beginning algorist. Furthermore, the author discounts entire paradigms of computer programming, giving the text a biased and unbalanced feel.
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Summary: This is a must for programmers
Review: This book is very well organized. It really helps identifying and solving problems. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Interesting but sloppily written
Review: This is a good attempt at an algorithm design manual, but from my perspective (as a professor of mathematics working in combinatorics and combinatorial optimization) the writing is simply not precise enough. I'm not saying the book is too "chatty" or "informal". A technical book can be either or both while imparting its content in a clear and unambiguous fashion. I compliment the author on the idea for this book, which I think fills a gap and is at about the right level. However, if a second edition is printed (and I hope it will be), the author should read every (technical) sentence of his text and ask the question "Am I saying exactly what I mean to say?". Unfortunately, despite knowing more often than not what the author _intends_ to say, often I have trouble convincing myself that this is what is actually said. That having been said: this is a good reference and provides a good "meta-overview" of the basics of algorithms. The Catalog of Algorithmic Problems is a particularly useful tool for quickly locating problems that might be similar to one under consideration and determining (as of 5 years ago, anyway) the approximate state of the art. I recommend this book, but not unreservedly.
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