Algorithms in Java, Parts 1-4 (3rd Edition) (Pts.1-4) [Paperback]

Robert Sedgewick (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201361205 | ISBN-13: 978-0201361209 | Publication Date: August 2, 2002 | Edition: 3

For the first time, Sedgewick's seminal work on algorithms and data structures is available with implementations in Java. Michael Schidlowsky and Sedgewick have developed new Java code that both expresses the methods in a concise and direct manner, and also provides programmers with the practical means to test them on real applications. This particular book, Parts 1-4, represents the essential first half of Sedgewick's complete work. Its four parts are fundamentals, data structures, sorting, and searching. It has expanded coverage of arrays, linked lists, strings, trees, ADT's, and object-oriented programming.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Sedgewick has a real gift for explaining concepts in a way that makes them easy to understand. The use of real programs in page-size (or less) chunks that can be easily understood is a real plus. The figures, programs, and tables are a significant contribution to the learning experience of the reader; they make this book distinctive.
--William A. Ward, University of South Alabama

This edition of Robert Sedgewick's popular work provides current and comprehensive coverage of important algorithms for Java programmers. Michael Schidlowsky and Sedgewick have developed new Java implementations that both express the methods in a concise and direct manner and provide programmers with the practical means to test them on real applications.

Many new algorithms are presented, and the explanations of each algorithm are much more detailed than in previous editions. A new text design and detailed, innovative figures, with accompanying commentary, greatly enhance the presentation. The third edition retains the successful blend of theory and practice that has made Sedgewick's work an invaluable resource for more than 400,000 programmers!

This particular book, Parts 1-4, represents the essential first half of Sedgewick's complete work. It provides extensive coverage of fundamental data structures and algorithms for sorting, searching, and related applications. Although the substance of the book applies to programming in any language, the implementations by Schidlowsky and Sedgewick also exploit the natural match between Java classes and abstract data type (ADT) implementations.

Highlights
• Java class implementations of more than 100 important practical algorithms
• Emphasis on ADTs, modular programming, and object-oriented programming
• Extensive coverage of arrays, linked lists, trees, and other fundamental data structures
• Thorough treatment of algorithms for sorting, selection, priority queue ADT implementations, and symbol table ADT implementations (search algorithms)
• Complete implementations for binomial queues, multiway radix sorting, randomized BSTs, splay trees, skip lists, multiway tries, B trees, extendible hashing, and many other advanced methods
• Quantitative information about the algorithms that gives you a basis for comparing them
• More than 1,000 exercises and more than 250 detailed figures to help you learn properties of the algorithms

Whether you are learning the algorithms for the first time or wish to have up-to-date reference material that incorporates new programming styles with classic and new algorithms, you will find a wealth of useful information in this book.

0201361205B08282002

About the Author

Robert Sedgewick is the William O. Baker Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. He is a Director of Adobe Systems and has served on the research staffs at Xerox PARC, IDA, and INRIA. He earned his Ph.D from Stanford University under Donald E. Knuth.

0201361205AB06262002

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Product Details

• Paperback: 768 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 3 edition (August 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201361205
• ISBN-13: 978-0201361209
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #420,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars `Algorithms in Java' aka `How little code does it take to confuse people?', February 9, 2006

By 

A. Flamholz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Algorithms in Java, Parts 1-4 (3rd Edition) (Pts.1-4) (Paperback)

I have the dubious distinction of having taken a class that used this book as it's central text. The illustrations are great. The explanations of algorithms and general algorithm design concepts are clear. The code, however, is neigh unreadable in a lot of places.

This was a huge problem for me, as I had a lot of difficulty seeing a clear mapping from the concepts explained to the code examples. Sedgwick's code examples often build on previous ones to the degree that they are not understandable on their own (this is especially true with the graph algorithms in part 5). If you try to use this book as a reference you will find yourself digging much harder than you would like in order to understand code samples that are actually quite simple. You could see how this might make a programming based course difficult.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a gifted writer, February 12, 2007

By 

mathboy (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Algorithms in Java, Parts 1-4 (3rd Edition) (Pts.1-4) (Paperback)

[...]I have at least half of both volumes, and it really seems to me that there are real problems here with the exposition. Let me see if I can elaborate.

Here is an actual sentence from the book-

We construct a symbol table that is made up of an ordered array of keys, except that we keep in that array not the key, but an index into the text string that points to the first character of the key.

Consider that there are two possible conflicting meanings of the sentence fragment :

...an index into the text string that points to the first character of the key.

In the first meaning, there is an index that points to the first character of a string which string has the property that it, in its turn "points to the first character of the key". (a String is engaged in pointing and so in the index.)

In the second meaning, there is an index that points (into) a text string and in fact that index points into the FIRST CHARACTER of that text string, and that first character the index is pointing to, well, that is the also first character of the key. (only the index is pointing; the string pointeth not.)

OK so how do you describe what's missing here? At least the disambiguating use of commas, at least. It's as though he likes to write in subordinate clauses, but thinks it's economical to leave out the punctuation (which, it is true, there are no hard and fast rules for).

So it's just sentence after sentence after sentence like that. Sometimes you can understand what he's saying. Other times, really you just can't. IF each sentence has 2 (or more!) possible interpretations, and each sentence depends on your understanding the last (as is the case- he never says the same thing in two different ways), then you get this ambiguity growing at the alarming rate of x^2, an observation the author might enjoy.

As the other reviewers said, the code is a C programmers attempt to write in Java. This never goes well.....


But the fact remains it is still the most accessible and thorough coverage of some of its subjects. So what are you going to do?

I don't get the impression he is deliberately bartering in obscuratism, it's just that this book suffers (and so will you) from a lack of editing, a lack of reviewing and feedback by genuine, unaided learners etc. etc.

You might want to check other people's lists for alternatives. Or not. Perhaps that passage was perfectly clear to you.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough, well written and illustrated, excellent, December 28, 2004

By 

Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Algorithms in Java, Parts 1-4 (3rd Edition) (Pts.1-4) (Paperback)

This is an excellent book. Robert does a great job leading you through the fundamentals of algorithms and algorithm analysis. The visualizations are very well done. In particular the sort algorithm coverage is very well illustrated and described.

The best parts of the book are sorting and searching. A wide variety of algorithms are explained and demonstrated in detail. The code is solid and the writing is very good.

This is the set of Java algorithms books.