Introduction To Algorithms First Edition Edition

Text is pretty good but has pedagogical weaknesses

Comment

Ben Bitdiddle

October 6, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I think this is a pretty good book that is easy to read if you have a strong background in proof-based math.

Highlights:
- The introduction (Chapters 1-4) is really good and does a good job setting up all the fundamental concepts of algorithms. I think a lot of people tend to skip over introductions because they think they know all of it already, but this is an introduction that I recommend reading the whole way through.
- The book is a pretty light read (none of the math is too difficult) and each chapter is a good length.
- I think the material on dynamic programming and greedy algorithms was particularly enlightening, and if you read it the whole way through you actually learn how to prove that greedy algorithms work, instead of just being like "let's use a greedy algorithm because it seems right"
- I was able to copy a lot of CLRS code almost verbatim in my programming interviews and pass them.
- The figures are really well done and informative.

Drawbacks:
- The pseudocode has a lot of one-letter variable names, and while this follows the tradition of pure math, it also makes understanding the algorithms more difficult than it should be.
- Sometimes the pseudocode is not the "easiest" possible pseudocode (for example, merge sort), and I think it would be better if the authors presented a simpler version of the pseudocode first and then extended it to the optimal version. But then I guess CLRS would be even longer than it already is.
- The arrays are 1-indexed, which makes it trickier to convert to code. Also there are some sections of the textbook (the counting sort section) where some of the arrays are 0-indexed and other arrays are 1-indexed, which is just weird.
- I think the material on graphs, particularly the derivations, could be done in a more engaging and intuitive way. The derivations in Chapters 22-24 were a long series of small uninteresting lemmas, instead of a small number of harder, more insightful theorems. I found derivations elsewhere on the internet that were a lot more interesting and built more intuition about why the procedures worked. I feel like the rest of the book is pretty good though, so maybe all the graph stuff was written by a separate person who is not very good at explaining things.

10 people found this helpful

Excellent textbook! Watchout for bogus paperback editions!

Comment

J. Noor

April 2, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book is amazing. It is rigorous yet approachable for anyone who likes a challenge. Definitely a keeper.

Watchout for bogus paperback editions offered by third party sellers. They are titled “Eastern Economy Edition”, and are extremely poor quality. This was discovered the hard way. Only order the standard MIT Press hardback edition through Prime, and verify the ISBN when it arrives.

3 people found this helpful

Top-Notch Content, Poor Binding

Comment

June 3, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is probably the most well known and most used textbook on the subject, and with good reason. An excellent resource, covering just about everything you need to know for a good understanding of Algorithms. (side tip, my friends in the industry call this the "How To Pass a Google Interview" book).

My only complaint is that the binding has completely stated disintegrating after only 9 weeks of use. All of chapters 15 and 16 are completely falling out of my copy (and this is getting worse). Very disappointing as I plan on using it for a long time.

7 people found this helpful

Comment

October 1, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The printing is not clear.

13 people found this helpful

Comment

January 22, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

My primary intent of buying the book was to implement efficient data processing algorithms for Data warehouse application in my project and in personal big data project i am working on. I see each algorithm has detailed mathematical proof, which i think you can skip and focus on just implementing the algorithm. I am sure this book is valuable for understanding the algorithm and you would do good job in tech interview. I see that most of IT companies such as Google, Apple etc.. focus more on how well the candidate understands and implements algorithm. So its more of back to basics :).

6 people found this helpful

Comment

Customer images

See all customer images

Most recent customer reviews

Andrew

Extremely useful as both a student and going forward as a programmer.

Published 1 day ago

lily

Four Stars

Pretty inornate, but easy to understand and covers two semesters of algorithmic analysis curriculum.

Published 14 days ago

Dae Hyun Kim

Good

Published 20 days ago

Amazon Customer

It is a good book and the package is very nice.

Published 22 days ago

Amazon Customer

very good book . hardcover.

Published 1 month ago

john akio firmin

The book is new and has the information I expected ...

The book is new and has the information I expected. Delivery was very quick. Made it in time for class.

Published 1 month ago

Faisal Shaheen

Truly, the "Bible" of it's material.

Look no further if you're trying to gain a concrete complete comprehension of the topics covered. That includes the foundations needed which are brilliantly briefly reviewed in...Read more

Published 1 month ago

Darlyn Daniel

Good book, great qualiy !!!

Published 2 months ago

Jem777dy

Lots of good stuff

Awesome book. It's very thick though. So, it's not a simple or quick read. Can ruin the back of people carrying it in their backpack.

Published 2 months ago

MBC