Computer Algorithms: Introduction to Design and Analysis (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Allen Van Gelder (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Drawing upon combined decades of teaching experience, Professors Sara Baase and Allen Van Gelder have extensively revised this best seller on algorithm design and analysis to make it the most current and accessible book available. This edition features an increased emphasis on algorithm design techniques such as divide-and-conquer and greedy algorithms, along with the addition of new topics and exercises. It continues the tradition of solid mathematical analysis and clear writing style that made it so popular in previous editions.

From the Back Cover

have extensively revised this best seller on algorithm design and analysis to make it the most current and accessible book available. This edition features an increased emphasis on algorithm design techniques such as divide-and-conquer and greedy algorithms, along with the addition of new topics and exercises. It continues the tradition of solid mathematical analysis and clear writing style that made it so popular in previous editions.

Highlights

• Emphasizes the development of algorithms through a step-by-step process rather than merely presenting the end result
• Stresses the importance of the algorithm analysis process—continuously re-evaluating, modifying, and perhaps rejecting algorithms until a satisfactory solution is attained
• Provides extensive treatment of recursion with a clear, student-friendly review of how it works and why it is a valuable programming technique
• Uses a Java-like pseudocode; includes an appendix with Java examples

0201612445B04062001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley; 3 edition (November 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201612445
• ISBN-13: 978-0201612448
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #528,144 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars the result is poor, May 11, 2001

By	B. Etin "algorithmic" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one of two books I must say sorry to. I hope readers may find my words helpful. I must say this is a poor book, although I feel the authors did put efforts to make it nice.

There are a lot of classical and excellent books on this subject. But here's the reason my department chose it as our textbook: Because the other books are relatively hard and deep for the students.

But here is the response from the studnets at the end of the semester, no matter it is an A student or C student: They hate this book, since they can not get much information after spending hours and hours on it. And they eventually found those "harder" books in lib, and loved them. The key reason is, those books explained everything clearly. (In almost the same number of pages.)

The key problem as I see is, the authors just understood the materials in a certain way, but not thoroughly, and not able to explain it in a clear way. Only a person who has already know all the stuff can figure out what are the authors talking about in some part of the book.

Now I believe, in order to write a good textbook for students, at least you should be a master in this area.

If some of my words hurts, I am sorry. But I am talking about my feeling and most students' feeling.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Student's Review, May 13, 2003

By A Customer

I'm a 4th year undergraduate student in computer science and I just finished the Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms course that was based on this book.

I thought the book was horrible. It did little to help me understand anything but general ideas. Reading this book is like reading a volume of mathematical proofs. The authors speak in symbols.

What makes it much worse is that every page makes multiple references to other portions of the text that aren't on the facing pages. They might be one page turn away, but very often they are a few pages, or even chapters away!

The only reason I would keep this book is for the list of topics it covers.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Considerably worse than the second edition., May 5, 2005

By	G. C. Rhoads (NJ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The second edition was arguably the best undergraduate text on algorithms. But unfortunately the 3rd (current) edition is a major disappointment. On the positive side, the coverage of graph algorithms was expanded; on the negative side, is everything else! The explanations are consistently worse than in the second edition. The description and explanation of Quicksort is particularly bad, in fact it's so horrible it should be ripped out of the book and thrown away. About the only use the book now has is as a source of exercises for professors to assign to their students -- fortunately, the exercises are almost entirely the same as in the second edition and are still the best set in any algorithms text.

I have only one thing to say to the author; if it ain't broke, don't fix it!