Customer Reviews

Data Structures and Algorithms in Java (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent book on data structures and algorithms and would be a great addition to a student's text book. Fortunately Lafore does not dwell on the algorithm analysis as many data structures books do. This is a plus for me, as most texts on the subject get the reader bogged down in the analysis portion of the subject matter. Note: algorithm analysis is a very important subject I just don't believe it should be taught in parallel with data structures to the extent it is. Its easier for me and many others to first learn how to implement data structures and get a feel for their performance then move on to in-depth analysis.

In this book you'll learn the more important data structures without the heavy mathematics many algorithm and data structure books torture readers with. The book is written in very accessible language and the applets really help the inexperienced see the algorithms in action.

As I mentioned this book does not cover algorithm analysis in detail. A step up from this book would be one of Sedgewick's books which provides more detail on the analysis front and some really 'tight' implementations. A good book that focuses on Algorithm Analysis is Intro to Algorithms by Cormen. You better have your math skills up to snuff for the Cormen book however.

Just about every Computer Science program requires a course called "Data Structures and Algorithms". In order to become a programmer you must understand the information provided in this course. This book was written as a textbook for a "Data Structures and Algorithms" course and all the expected topics are covered; arrays, queues, stacks, linked lists, trees, hash tables, heaps, sorting, recursion, and searching. Whether you are a teacher looking for a text, a student who wants a better text than the required one, or just someone who wants to learn more about programming, this book is a very good choice. By using Java, all the complications of C++ are eliminated and the author's crystal clear explanations come shining through. And the author's explanations and examples are excellent. For example, the chapter on link lists explains what a linked list is, what problems it is supposed to solve and what problems it fails to solve, and then shows how to implement your own link list. The author provides a set of applets to visually illustrate the topics covered in the book. There are questions at the end of each chapter and answers are provided. This book is not going to explain the Collection classes or help you learn the API. What this book will do is help you get a deeper understanding of what data structures are, how they work, and what performance sacrifices must be made in order to achieve better overall performance in your programs.

This book is a good introduction to data structures, and would do nicely as an undergraduate college text. It does not have the rigor, however, for an advanced data structures class as might be expected in graduate-level courses. While the author provides plenty of pictures and descriptions to run online applets, the applets were nearly impossible to find on the web. They are not at the location as stated in the book. Even without using the applets though, there are plenty of good diagrams in the book to follow.

So, get this book if you want a nice introduction to the most common data structures, but don't get this book if you are looking for the "end-all" of data structures, or a rigorous approach to defining the complexity/performance associated with the data structures; You'll have to look elsewhere for that.

I initially started looking at the study of Algorithms with Sedgewick's "Data Structures and Algorithms with C++", and decided to buy this book because Sedgewick's approach seemed limiting. I have only had a day or two to spend with the Lafore, but I am inclined to express appreciation for the effectiveness of his pedalogical approach. He indicates early on that he wishes, in his presentation, to separate the subject matter from complexities of C++, and also from software design theory and a dense mathmatical treatment, so the focus can remain on data structs and algorithms without unnessary complication. In early chapters, he is able to dispense with "Big O" notation in just a handful of pages, in a way that is quite useful and would be understandable to a high school student, I think.

I found myself sailing through the chapters in the book very pleasurably and with ease of understanding of the different topics that I think will be useful to me.

Sedgewick's book, by comparison, contains some subtle material not covered in Lafore (quite a lot), and the implementation of the coding better demonstrates the most efficient possible approach (C++ as the underlying programming language, of course, facilitates this). However, the style of the code is comparatively bad, and requires much longer periods of scutinization and repeated efforts to reach a good level of comprehension. Additionally, the style of explication throughout the text is of the bravura, academic type, as much intended to impress a peer group of academics as to serve a genuinely instructive purpose. Additionally, there constant references to-and-fro throughout the text (comprising an astonishing bulk of it, as a matter of fact), and one wonders why things could not be better organized. It is very much of a "plum pudding", in my opinion, very overcomplicated. You will need a lot of patience and a high threshold against irritation to read it. All in all, Sedgewick is a lot better than the famous and infamously incomprehensible Knuth (with whom he learned his licks), but that is not saying a great deal. There are some merits, I think, to teaching DS & algorithms in C++, as this language allows for a very detailed examination of the spinning and whirring gears of machine as it cranks through the code. The requisite C++ level in the Sedgewick is not trivial, but not too steep either ("Practical C++", published by Que, would serve very well as a fairly quick and dirty introduction to C++, completely adequate to get through Sedewick's text), and would come in handy especially for UNIX system-type programing and scientific computing. On the other hand, the Java approach in the Lafore is much more robust, and allows a higher-level tour of the terrain. (Despite his protestations to the contrary, Lafore teaches software engineering in an exemplary manner with his use of the Java OOP paradigm).

One self-instuctive approach would be to start with the Lafore, and use this as the text with which to apply the real "elbow grease" of learning the different topics in this area, and then have a read-through of the Sedgewick to see what might be useful there. If you have an extremely masochistic streak and want then to devote the rest of your life to the study and teaching of algorithms, proceed onward to the Knuth, (but get a ph.D in mathmatics beforehand ;-)

No, I am not the author. I am a self-taught SUN Certified java developer with no computer science background. I feel like this book changed me from being an amateur to being a computer scientist. You just can't get the information that is in this book anywhere. I had heard these words like recursion, trees, stacks, queues... but never really knew what they were. Now I do.

In my oppinion, the two most important aspects of a good technology book are writing style and trust in the authors knowledge. This book has both. The author presents the information in a clear, simple, visual way with no witty nonsense. Only essential information is included and is supported by diagrams, illustrations, easy-to-follow code snipets and a companion CD which dynamically and visually illustrates how the algorithms work. Also, the book reads smooth; it is a real joy. I read this thing in a weekend. It was a lot of work, but totally rewarding.

I am very grateful to Mr. Lafore and look forward to reading some of his other books.

I am nearing the end of my Data structures and Algorithms course at the University of Missouri, and I'm doing very well, thanks in part to this fantastic book. I realized right away that I didn't like the assigned textbook for the class, so I did some research online and ended up buying a used, first edition copy of this book. One of the best investments I ever made! (I also purchased another book which I like - see the end of this review).

The explanations are so clear, I can honestly say it has been relatively easy to learn. I haven't really struggled at all. The author takes a very sensible approach, only focusing on the subject of algorithms and data structures. He criticizes the current trend of mixing software engineering and oop in with this subject (which is exactly why I don't like the assigned textbook). His goal when writing this book was to create "the most easily understood book ever written on data structures and algorithms." I'd say he hit his mark dead-on!

The only thing missing from the book is exercises. There are none (at least not in the first edition). But several times I have taken the code from the accompanying CD and rewritten it to suit my personal programming style, which has been very instructive.

I don't know what has been added/changed in the new edition, but you can probably find out by checking the publisher's Website. The author has given us a real gem, and for that I am grateful. By the way, another very good book is "Data structures and Algorithms" by Aho, Ullman, and Hopcroft. I highly recommend it as well. I think it's out of print, but I had no trouble finding a cheap, used copy.

Best wishes,

Greg Norris

I bought this book for my Data Structures class at NCSU and it was perfect. There aren't a lot of "real world" examples; its just the straight forward way of showing you want the data structures are and how to code them efficiently. There's also a lot of extra theory in the sorting chapters that I haven't found in other data structure books.

I found this book to be very useful to learn data structures even with minimum Java knowledge. The chapters are well written so that it's very easy to understand the matter quickly.
BUT: Many of the source codes are incomplete or even missing! I have no problem with typing source code from the book but if the author shows source codes where important methods are missing (delete method on 2-3-4 Trees) or even whole data structures are only explained in theory (Red Black Trees) without any piece of source code and at the end of the chapter tells us to find such stuff out by ourself I'm starting to wonder what do I paid the 45$ for?! I don't need a book for telling me to try to find out stuff by myself! I'm buying a book exactly for the matter to tell me the things that I can't find out by myself!

This book is the best introduction to data structures and algorithms. Explanations are clear and straight to the point. There are a lot of examples well commented and explained. The web site for this book includes all examples and applets. Applets let you to visualize how all algorithms work in real not just abstract concepts. All the books I have encountered up to now were very mathematical and confusing. In opposite this one teaches you what you should know as a programmer/developer. If you make some research in this field, for sure you need more complex proofs and inductions found in very academic and dry books. Otherwise use this one to clearly grasp all difficult concepts. ALL CODES COMPILE WITHOUT A SINGLE ERROR. AMAZING!!!!!!!!

It is a good book for those who have vague memories of the little details of the data structure class in sophmore year. The applet that comes with the book (i mean you need to download yourself) is very useful to refresh the concept.