Algorithms in C, Part 5: Graph Algorithms (3rd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: A must-have reference for Graph Algorithms
Review: As students in Robert Sedgewick's Algorithms and Data Structures Course at Princeton, we had the privilege of reading Part 5 of Algorithms in C in a preprint edition this spring. Its treatment of Graph Algorithms is as thorough and comprehensive as the treatment of sorting and searching in parts 1-4. The algorithms discussed range from the fundamental (Depth-first search, Dijkstra's algorithm), to the relatively obscure (Gabow's strong component algorithm), to the impossibly difficult (Network Simplex), all in great detail. The book also discusses real-world applications of these algorithms, such as arbitrage. It contains a good number of useful diagrams allowing step-by-step traces of the algorithms, which helps decipher the sometimes cryptic code.
A warning: the book is DENSE. It is packed with detailed information and can be a difficult read, especially the mathematical analysis of the algorithms.

All in all, a great book, though.

Rating:
Summary: Better then no book about graph algorithms.
Review: Robert Sedgewick is certainly well known to all people involved in the development of algorithms form different fields as an author of a number of books about algorithmic methods and data structures. And I am sure that we all appreciate this work because one simply needs all the time a reference to look up not only how one can solve a probem algorithmic but also how one can do this in an efficient way.

This book provides a good overview of algorithms dealing with graphs but the problem is that the connection between the given source code in C and its general exlanation failed. It is clear, that a solution to a problem does not depend on the underlying programing language, hence, Sedgewick's book is anyway not intened to do this otherwise it would wear another title. On the other hand, an algorithm without general explanation brings not much.

I think this book has a conceptual problem. None is interested in preimplemented code, because one normaly has a certain problem the algorithm has to be adapted. In general, this book is better then nothing but far from being a complete source of information concerning the functioning of the algorithms.