Data Structures and Program Design In C (2nd Edition) [Paperback]

Robert L. Kruse (Author), Bruce P. Leung (Author), Clovis L. Tondo (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 013288366X | ISBN-13: 978-0132883665 | Publication Date: July 27, 1996 | Edition: 2

Progressing from the concrete to the abstract — and using numerous, substantial case studies and sample programs — this book explores structured problem solving, data abstraction, software engineering principles, and the comparative analysis of algorithms as fundamental tools of program design. Emphasizes principles of top-down refinement, program design, review, and testing. Uses the C programming language throughout. Offers Internet access to the source code for all the programs and program extracts printed in the book.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In a surprisingly lively textbook-style treatment, Data Structures and Program Design in C++ delivers expertise and plenty of sample programs for the working C++ programmer or computer science student.

While some books on data structures stress theory and mathematical concepts over real-world sample code, this guide illustrates its tour of data structures--such as stacks, lists, queues, trees, and graphs--with clear, engaging samples. Throughout, the authors make use of built-in C++ features (such as the Standard Template Library [STL] and templates) where appropriate.

Early chapters use such interesting examples as Conway's Game of Life, chess and game programming, a simple calculator, and an airport simulation. Along the way, the reader will learn about lists, stacks, and queues.

In later chapters, covering thornier topics such as sorting algorithms, trees, and graphs, the authors do not skimp on the mathematical underpinnings for measuring efficiency. Instead, they take extreme care to introduce everything required to understand such conventions as the "Big O" notation and principles of logarithms.

The book closes with a case study that combines several data structures and strategies. (The example, a Polish notation expression parser, is a difficult and common real-world sample.) -- Richard Dragan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher

Progressing from the concrete to the abstract -- and using numerous, substantial case studies and sample programs -- this text explores structured problem solving, data abstraction, software engineering principles, and the comparative analysis of algorithms as fundamental tools of program design.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 671 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (July 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013288366X
• ISBN-13: 978-0132883665
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #64 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > Database Design
  • #68 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Algorithms > Data Structures

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent Book on Data Structures, August 21, 2005

By 

Siddhardha (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Data Structures and Program Design In C (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

I just finished an online course on data structures at UMass, Lowell (secured an A grade without any problem) and this is the textbook used for this course. I agree with some of the comments made by the reviewers here - that typedef's are used beyond reason, code is presented in fragments. I must strongly disagree with the reviewers who said - the book is not worth the money (it's cheap if you buy a used one), it is a bad book, useful only as a paper weight. The strong plus point for this book is that it presents theory well - there are many figures using which it is easy to understand complicated stuff. The other plus point is that it also analyzes the performance of algorithms and I felt the book does a great job of explaining this part in clear terms. The main drawback is that the code is fragmented and spread out, which is certainly frustating. Also, in order to get the code to work on a compiler (I used Microsoft VC++ version 6), you will need to "fill in the gaps" as most code examples (I tried 90% of the examples in the text on MVC++ compiler) are by no means complete but this was not difficult. You can download the code from the publisher's website and the code is actually not organized into different files (sorted by chapter and example) but it comes in a few files where examples from different chapters are mixed. You will have to search and find the part you need. I do agree usage of dummy functions creates confusion. This book has a rocky start with the life game example, which was not very easy to follow with the explanation provided. While I was frustated with the first two chapters, the rest of the chapters are presented well. To the reviewer who said that the code has bugs (which certainly isn't true), my guess that the gaps are not properly filled. I patiently tested most of the code on the computer (after filling in the gaps of course!) and find absolutely no problems with it. This however took lot of time since significant effort is needed from the student to fill the missing code to make it work. I have supplied working code to my fellow students who were facing difficulties in getting the code to run. In a couple of places in the text, the author surprised me with C syntax I did not know was legal (I consider myself intermediate programmer).

I suspect the reason why many readers have problems with this book is two-fold: 1.The code is not available in a format that can be tested on the compiler. Having read a lot of CS books which supply with readily usable code, this book gets annoying. I was wondering why the authors did not give downloadable working code for all examples in the text (which is a definite minus point) 2. The reader will have to go back and forth between the chapters as some functions developed in former chapters are used in later chapters. This does get irritating. I have read books that do this to a ridiculous level but this book stays with in tolerable bounds.

I will not rate this book as the best one on the subject out there but it is definitely good enough to learn data structures. I have used another book as a supplement: Data Structures & Algorithms in Java (Mitchell Waite Signature Series) (Hardcover) By Mitchell Waite, Robert Lafore ISBN: 1571690956. This book has lot of applets that show step by step how algorithms work. I am a visual learner and this helped tremendously. However, I felt that Waite Series book did not present the theory as thoroughly as Robert Kruse's text.

In summary, I consider this book as "decent". I was very much concerned when I first purchased this text because of so many bad reviews. As it turns out, those that can understand C and are willing to sit in front of the computer to make the code samples in this book work need not have any fear. As I said earlier, the theory is presented well, and all it needs is patience and diligence from the student to go through the code examples on a compiler. I believe that I now have a good understanding of the subject and I can move on books that deal with it at more depth. There are a plethora books on this topic out there and there may be better books than the ones mentioned in this review.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best book for introductory algorithms, August 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Data Structures and Program Design In C (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

There is a number of books in Algorithm design which concentrate blindly on the run time complexity of algorithms, when covering them. This book is quite an exception to that tradition. In contrast, this book explain the algorithms itself. If you are interested to know about more detail and personalized characteristics of an algorithm, besides its running time complexity, such as space complexity, data movement complexity, performance on non asymptotic (smaller) case, etc. this is the book to read. Although, the book appears less technical at the first sight, I have compared it with Corman's. It contains almost all the analysis for the algorithms it presents. In fact Cormen's book lacks any analysis on space complexity. You will be disappointed in this book (like few other readers) if you are looking for a compendium of abstract complexity analysis of a large set of algorithms or just the discussion on data structure, pointer etc. It lacks advanced algorithms. Also, its graph theory chapter needs more depth. Without any reservation, I can say it is one of the best book available for first course in algorithm analysis and design.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best book on data structures available, July 26, 2002

By 

Jeffrey Hsu - See all my reviews

This review is from: Data Structures and Program Design in C++ (Hardcover)

The previous Pascal edition of this book was extremely readable and what I learned data structures from. It had a lot of diagrams which were invaluable to understanding the algorithm. This book improves upon that edition by adding even more illustrative pictures and is updated with new algorithms and analysis techniques like amortized analysis which were not around when the old book was written. The writing style of the author is impeccably understandable. I collect books on algorithms and data structures and this is the most readable book ever.

P.S. I've found the books which use STL to be opaque and focus more on STL and C++ than on understanding the data structure and algorithm. This is why many authors, including Sedgewick, eschew STL in their books. STL is also not relevant when programming in other languages, like the ubiquitous C programming language.