Introduction to the Design and Analysis of Algorithms (2nd Edition)

I couldn't have hoped for a better book for algorithm analysis. It eases you into the content with some puzzles, important data structure review, and the importance of studying algorithms. I like how the algorithms are presented by the general technique, and not by the problem they solve. It helped me develop a systematic way to approach the problems. Many problems are also addressed several times, so you can go back and improve algorithms done in earlier problems. The author also gets into P and NP stuff towards the end. My only grievance is that the author sometimes makes an assumption in an explanation, but with a good professor these exceptions are quickly resolved.

I've read other algorithm books like Cormen's Introduction to Algorithm's, but The Design and Analysis of Algorithms is by far the best. The chapters are organized by concepts like Greedy and Divide-and-Conquer instead of by problem types like sorting or searching. It was also written using a more conversational tone than your average computer science text, so it was much easier and more interesting to read. Overall, it's a great book that I would definitely recommend for anyone looking to learn or brush up on algorithms!

A bought this as a birthday gift to my son, who is doctoral candidate in cognitive science and does a lot of specialized programming. He told me that he's found this guide very useful in its approach and content.

For those of you who've always wanted to throw the Cormen text out the window rejoice you finally can! This book is an excellent introduction to algorithms. Though not as thorough as the Cormen text it's orders of magnitude more readable!

Great boom

I purchased this book through my college in order to take an on-line class. 3301 for HPU. The class is pretty good but wow, this book leaves so many things to "assumption". The author likes to use the would Obviously when ever he/she doesn't feel like explain something in detail or feels that it's beneath the scope of the material. If this book is being used as an educational resource I would expect them to explain in detail and not leave things up to the assumption that each student will understand. In fact, I have learned more from you tube videos than what I have read out of this book. This is not just a gripe session, I just feel like school books should explain things in detail. "Obviously" there are pre req's for any class, however that does not remove the duty of the publishers to provide a near complete source. There are some good things about the book, they have lots of examples. The hints in the back of the book are lame, but the diagrams are well done. I don't have that much of a problem picking up the material, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is a computer sci beginner. If you have been doing this for years and can work your way around a nested for loop with a bit of recursion than you may do fine. If you have a hard time understanding boolean logic and discrete math than you may want to look at another source as well.

This book gave me a better understanding of the most difficult problems that are covered in algorithm class, such as Branch and Bound for the Traveling Salesman Problem, Dynamic Programming of Matrix Multiplication, and the 0-1 Knapsack problem.

Very useful for software engineering interviews