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Algorithms in a Nutshell 1st Edition

by George T. Heineman (Author), Gary Pollice (Author), Stanley Selkow (Author)

4.3 50 ratings

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Algorithms in a Nutshell: A Practical Guide
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Creating robust software requires the use of efficient algorithms, but programmers seldom think about them until a problem occurs. Algorithms in a Nutshell describes a large number of existing algorithms for solving a variety of problems, and helps you select and implement the right algorithm for your needs -- with just enough math to let you understand and analyze algorithm performance.

With its focus on application, rather than theory, this book provides efficient code solutions in several programming languages that you can easily adapt to a specific project. Each major algorithm is presented in the style of a design pattern that includes information to help you understand why and when the algorithm is appropriate.

With this book, you will:

Solve a particular coding problem or improve on the performance of an existing solution
Quickly locate algorithms that relate to the problems you want to solve, and determine why a particular algorithm is the right one to use
Get algorithmic solutions in C, C++, Java, and Ruby with implementation tips
Learn the expected performance of an algorithm, and the conditions it needs to perform at its best
Discover the impact that similar design decisions have on different algorithms
Learn advanced data structures to improve the efficiency of algorithms

With Algorithms in a Nutshell, you'll learn how to improve the performance of key algorithms essential for the success of your software applications.

About the Author

George Heineman is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at WPI. His research interests are in Software Engineering. He co-edited the 2001 book "Component-Based Software Engineering: Putting the Pieces Together". He was the Program Chair for the 2005 International Symposium on Component-Based Software Engineering.

Gary Pollice is a self-labeled curmudgeon (that's a crusty, ill-tempered, usually old man) who spent over 35 years in industry trying to figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up. Even though he hasn't grown up yet, he did make the move in 2003 to the hallowed halls of academia where he has been corrupting the minds of the next generation of software developers with radical ideas like, "develop software for your customer, learn how to work as part of a team, design and code quality and elegance and correctness counts, and it's okay to be a nerd as long as you are a great one."

Gary is a Professor of Practice (meaning he had a real job before becoming a professor) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He went to WPI because he was so impressed with the WPI graduates that he's worked with over the years. He lives in central Massachusetts with his wife, Vikki, and their two dogs, Aloysius and Ignatius. When not working on geeky things he ... well he's always working on geeky things. You can see what he's up to by visiting his WPI home page at: http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~gpollice/. Feel free to drop him a note and complain or cheer about the book.

Stanley Selkow received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1965, and then a Ph.D. in the same area from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970. From 1968 to 1970 he was in the Public Health Service at the National Institutes of Health at Bethesda Maryland. Since 1970 he has been on the faculty at universities in Knoxville TN and Worcester MA, as well as Montreal, Chonqing, Lausanne and Paris. His major research has been in graph theory and algorithm design.

ISBN-10

059651624X
ISBN-13

978-0596516246
Edition

1st
Publisher

Oreilly & Associates Inc
Publication date

October 21, 2008
Language

English
Dimensions

6.34 x 0.81 x 8.98 inches
Print length

343 pages
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oreilly & Associates Inc; 1st edition (October 21, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 343 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 059651624X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0596516246
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.34 x 0.81 x 8.98 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,118,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #342 in Programming Algorithms
- #1,421 in Software Development (Books)
- #44,599 in Unknown

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About the authors

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George Heineman
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
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George T. Heineman is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at WPI. His research interests are in Software Engineering. He co-edited the 2001 book "Component-Based Software Engineering: Putting the Pieces Together". He is nearly half-way towards his childhood goal of writing one million lines of code.
Aside from his professional pursuits, George is an avid puzzler. He invented Sujiken(R), a Sudoku variation played on a right-triangle arrangement of cells in which numbers cannot repeat in a horizontal row, vertical column or diagonal in any direction. See more at http://www.sujiken.com
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Gary Pollice
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RC

Extreamly practical book

Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2012

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When we as software developers apply algorithms in our daily work, how many of us really have to prove to our bosses or customers the algorithms works mathematically? I bet there most of us don't.

That's how come this book is extremely useful for algorithms consumers. It's very practical and skip most of the math b***s***. You open it, jump right to the solution you want, lookup the pseudocode and the graph, and maybe spend a few minutes to read the description, that's it. Get in, get out, get things done, people happy.

If you really care about the math, there are plenty of algorithms classic out there on the shelf you can get. But if you just need the algorithms to save you ass at some point like me, this is the perfect choice.

2 people found this helpful

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Chunhyok Chong

Good collection, some wrong codes.

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2011

Verified Purchase

It would be a helpful reference book for the quick search of practical algorithm.
It well depicts the conceptual diagrams and has implementations for the topics such as sort, search, path, graph, geometry and so on.

But you could find that the some of codes of the book lack of fidelity like the range checking of the input values and some bugs in codes ..

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2013

Verified Purchase

I bought this in preparation for software engineering job interviews after being out of college for a decade and finding myself being asked to write things like a Quicksort at onsite interviews. This book covers a number of the commonly used Sorting/Searching algorithms as well as delving into path finding and other interesting topics. Even after finding a job I still enjoy reading it and have found it useful on several occasions when I needed to determine the best algorithm for the job.

The code examples are mostly written in C but most programmers will be fine with using the psuedo-coded algorithms and their favorite language.

4 people found this helpful

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brad

decent, but far too chatty

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2008

Verified Purchase

i understand that ORA wants to create reader-friendly experiences without too much mathematical syntax and density, but this book is needlessly chatty. for example, the first chapter which discusses the motivation for better algorithms could have been compressed into a single page. the next chapter on bounds and limits (bog-Oh notation etc) was so chatty that i just ended up skipping pages. in comparison, skiena's "algorithm design manual" uses a bit more math, but accomplishes explaining this topic in a much briefer fashion. having read both books, i would recommend skiena's book over this. sorry authors, i really wanted to like this book.

31 people found this helpful

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Evnik Grishka

Intense knowledge WITHOUT confusing math proofs

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2013

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Don't get me wrong, math equations are very important and are critical parts of understanding algorithms. However, in many algorithm books, I feel that between long math equations and multi-page proofs, something is lost, and readers and students therefore suffer.

This is the ONLY book I've found so far that UNDERSTANDABLY explains algorithms without Math-Proof spam. It is actually the best algorithm reference book I've found so far. Has lots of pictures.

Well worth the money. BUY IT.

4 people found this helpful

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vsayer

O'Reilly's Algorithms

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2010

Verified Purchase

This is another great addition to the programmer's bookshelf. I would still recommend "Introduction to Algorithms" if you want to learn algorithms, but this book could serve as a great quick reference. All examples are done in C, which is fine although I would have liked to see other languages.

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GSG

Ordered USED but it was like NEW :)

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2019

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Ordered the used book and quality was so good that it resembles like a NEW one!!!

One person found this helpful

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Trent Rand

Great buy!

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2015

Verified Purchase

Great book. Teaches topics found in my class in a more clear and concise manner then the course's assigned textbook.
The writing style and pseudocode are relatively easy to comprehend.

One person found this helpful

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Flo

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on March 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

my son liked it

Adrian

Very good.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 8, 2015

Verified Purchase

Very good book. Author should be really proud of all the graphs and tables that explain the core algorithm! I can only wish so they would cover even more algorithms...

One person found this helpful

Ovidiu - Dan Bogat

Beigeistert

Reviewed in Germany on May 23, 2013

Verified Purchase

Bim mit diesem Buch absolut begeistert.

Mir hat es sehr geholfen da es an den richtigen Stellen auf "Introduction to Algorithms" verweist, welches auch bei mir steht, jedoch fuer schnelles nachschlagen eher nicht geeignet ist.

Die Beispiele sind gut und ausfuehrlich, und das Buch an sich ist Praxisbezogen sowie als Nachschlagewerk aufgebaut.
Genau was man sich erwartet (ich mir erwartet habe).

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mike williams

Good Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2014

Verified Purchase

A good general read about algorithms in computing. Some knowledge of a proper computing language would be advantageous.
Some nice clear diagrams (in the paper version - nor sure how they would look in Kindle)
Quite a slim book though, very convenient for reading in the bath.

If you want a big fat book on algorithms that you can impress of intimidate people with you may need to try a different book.

One person found this helpful

Free Thinker

Desk reference of fundamental algorithms in programming

Reviewed in Canada on October 26, 2011

Verified Purchase

Clearly written and concise reference on sorting, searching, computational geometry and similar basics. Very practical exposition. Can be used for preparations to interviews for entry level software development positions by both sides.

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