Rating: 
Summary: Good reference for data structures in any old language
Review: This doesn't do a very good job of presenting data structures that mesh into a well designed C++ program, but it's got great explanations of the algorithms themselves, and if you're a half-decent programmer, you can code up a design yourself quickly from the explanations given.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for Algorithms, perhaps not for C++ implementations
Review: This is easily one of the leading texts on data structures and algorithms - a third edition has already been released (however, that is practically a new book ,so read on :-)...). Sedgewick is a student of the great Donald Knuth, and a leading researcher and authority in the field of Algorithmics.'Pound for pound', this might be as good as Cormen et al's classic, which is the undisputed leader among introductory books on algorithms. However, this has two advantages over that book : (1)Size : Weighing in at a lean 656 pages, this is almost 40% smaller than Cormen's classic, while providing approximately the same breadth. However, Cormen has the edge in depth, especially rigorous analysis of algorithms' performance. (2)'Real' code : This book has code snippets in C++, as opposed to Cormen which has it in pseudocode.However, the code is far from 'ready to run' - it's just enough to give you an idea how to go about building your own code. Another plus point is short and crisp chapters which can be easily 'digested' - average chapter size is only about 14 pages. This book really covers a lot of topics - sorting, searching, parsing, computational geometry, graphs, fast fourier transforms, mathematical algorithms and much,much more. It is written in a very readable style, and the illustrations are a big help, perhaps the best in a book of this kind. It would've benefitted from a few more exercises, brief solutions, and a little more rigour in performance analysis. The code is excellent at one level, but it's actually excellent C code masquerading as C++ code, i believe. If you have no problem with C, you should perhaps go for the C version of this book - the C code is reminiscent of Kernighan & Ritchie. Beautiful, elegant C code !! If it's good C++ code that you're after, perhaps Mark Allen Weiss's book or Heileman's book might be a better choice. Also, the new (3rd) edition of this book has much better C++ code. If you want more depth and rigour, and are willing to work a little harder, then Cormen's the way to go. However, if you want a bit of everything in one compact book, then this is the best choice. (Sedgewick's come up with a recent revision, but it's spread over several volumes - not sure whether that's a better choice, however the C++ code seems much better in that, with C++ consultancy by Chris Van Wyk, another student of the great Don Knuth)
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, easy, comprehensive, but incomplete
Review: Well, no matter if you grab Algorithms, Algorithms in C, or Algorithms in C++, the books are basicly all the same. They are very comprehensive and easy, even usable for a pupil at highschool, in my eyes the best book too approach Algorithms. It for sure is the ultimate bible for Undergratuates in Compscience during their first year, but it for sure lacks all the in-depth information on math and abstract computers ... If you just need some powerful Algorithms and need some source, this is the one to stick for, it helped me quite a couple times, although I never had to code in pascal,C or C++, but as remarked above, it's only for beginners, as you stick deeper in to compscience, as in yer 2nd year, you need a book sticking much deeper into theory, I guess, Donald E. Knuth is the best choice in English language for that kinda stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Good book but the title is Deceptive
Review: When I first opened the book, my initial inclination was to return it. The title is deceptive since it's examples are more C like with hardly any of the C++ OO features thrown in. And since I've designed and help wrote 3D Non-Uniform Bspline (NURBS) surfaces with cutouts in C for a graphics-CAD corp. for which I was awarded patent and a company award (and with $), last thing I needed was some trivia. I was pleasantly surprised at how readable this book was. When I was in school long ago, algorithm courses were full of heavily mathematical proofs and based on the Turing Machine model (Yuck!). While I'm familiar with most of the algorithms in the book, his very readable style and explanations is a great refresher and reference. I'm throwing my old college algorithm books out and keeping this.
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