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Programming Pearls (2nd Edition) 2nd Edition

by Jon Bentley (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 79 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 078-5342657883
ISBN-10: 0201657880
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 2 edition (October 7, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0201657880
  • ISBN-13: 978-0201657883
  • Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

101 of 104 people found the following review helpful
A course in how to think like an experienced programmer
By Mike Christie on June 17, 2000
Format: Paperback
The thirteen columns in this book appeared in the Communications of the ACM between 1983 and 1985. There can't be more than a couple of technical books on computing from that era that are still worth reading. Kernighan & Ritchie's book, "The C Programming Language", is one that springs to mind; this book is definitely another, and will probably outlast K&R as it has almost no ties to existing or past hardware or languages.
What Bentley does in each of these columns is take some part of the field of programming--something that every one of us will have run into at some point in our work--and dig underneath it to reveal the part of the problem that is permanent; that doesn't change from language to language. The first two parts cover problem definition, algorithms, data structures, program verification, and efficiency (performance, code tuning, space tuning); the third part applies the lessons to example pseudocode, looking at sorting, searching, heaps, and an example spellchecker.
Bentley writes clearly and enthusiastically, and the columns are a pleasure to read. But the reason so many people love this book is not for the style, it's for the substance--you can't read this book and not come away a better programmer. Inefficiency, clumsiness, inelegance and obscurity will offend you just a little more after you've read it.
It's hard to pick a favourite piece, but here's one nice example from the algorithm design column that shows how little the speed of your Pentium matters if you don't know what you're doing. Bentley presents a particular problem (the details don't matter) and multiple different ways to solve it, calculating the relationship between problem size and run time for each algorithm.Read more ›
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89 of 98 people found the following review helpful
The Pearls Still Glitter After a Decade
By Charles Ashbacher HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on March 2, 2000
Format: Paperback
Without any doubt, my favorite article in _Communications of the ACM_ in the 1980's was the regular `Programming Pearls' articles by Jon Bentley. When the first edition of these collected gems was published, I read it with great delight. Now, over a decade later, a second edition has been published, containing the same problems with additional modifications and notations. Given the enormous changes in programming since the mid 80's, your first reaction might be that this book is dated and therefore irrelevant. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Elegant solutions to complex programming problems are free from the rot of time. Programming is a thought process largely independent of the notation used to write it down. The solutions are sketched and explained rather than coded, and the solutions are complete. There is a certain mystique about taking a complex problem, finding an initial solution and then refining it down until it kicks some big time. There are some major lessons in program refinement explained in these solutions.
Coding a binary search is covered quite extensively, which may seem like a waste of space, as this problem was solved decades ago. However, that solution took decades to get right, and this is one of those "separates the coders from the key bangers" type of problem. Other problems examined include performance tuning, squeezing space and program correctness. While the improvement in the performance of the hardware has been astounding since these solutions were written, that does not make them obsolete. The complexity of the programs that we now build has risen even faster, so performance and space considerations are just as critical.
Some problems were here at the beginning and will still be here at the end.Read more ›
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Makes you think harder
By a reader on August 19, 2004
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Programming pearls is a compendium of 15 columns previously published in Communications of the ACM. The columns cover a wide range of topics related to programming: from requirements gathering to performance tuning. The focus is primarily on coding techniques and algorithms.

Each column has been reorganized as a chapter. Chapters usually start with the presentation of a practical problem. Then various solutions are presented and are used as lessons to be learned. The writing style is clear and fun.

Programming Pearls is not a usual book teaching new programming concepts. Although it contains good and sometimes quite novel ideas, the aim of the book is not to teach something new. For example, the search and sort algorithms presented are well-known. The aim is to remind programmers to think hard before starting writing code. The book has great chapter on back-of-the-envelope computation for example which is useful when comparing various solutions. The easy solutions to the column's problems are usually very slow. The `good' solutions are lightening fast but require thinking hard about the problems. I would recommend having a book about algorithms nearby when reading Programming Pearls.

The book is full of little (and some not so little) exercises that are given throughout the chapters. Solutions or hints are given at the end. The exercises usually take a few hours to do properly and are a great resource. Again the emphasis is on making the reader think.

If you consider programming a repetitious activity, Programming Pearls will provoke you into thinking harder about finding elegant solutions. I recommend this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Useless Book by a Useless Author

Useless Book, having read many great Algorithm books this books does not bring anything new. Presentation is bad and what is presented here can easily dug up from the internet. Read more

Published 11 days ago by fengshuienthu
It makes u better engineer all around

This is must ready for every software engineer regardless of what you do daily. It makes u better engineer all around.

Published 12 days ago by elbek
Good

Good read

Published 1 month ago by Neha Jain
Reading this book is a chore.

More like a collection of tech essays than a readable book, it's not something easy or quick to read through, you'll find yourself going back and forth between questions and... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Teh K. Yang
Five Stars

every sw engineer has to read this.

Published 3 months ago by serdar yildirim
Five Stars

This book is highly indicated for every kind of programmers, from beginners to most experienced

Published 6 months ago by Angelo Melo
Classic programming book.

Classic programming book. Jon Bentley knows how to write clearly and enthusiastically about algorithms. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Peteris Krumins
Five Stars

Great book. Must read for software engineers.

Published 9 months ago by gkumar3
Must have for a Software Engineer

This is my favorite book to read and re-read. Words of wisdom from an era that was not spoiled by abundant memory

Published 9 months ago by Saideep Sambaraju
Age diminishes it not ...

Ancient, actually. Still one of the best books on the very best of the discipline.

Published 11 months ago by Eclectic Polymath

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