The Algorithm Design Manual

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What I like about this book is that, it does not talk about what a particular algorithm does and how it is implemented, but more it takes you on a flight between two algorithms. If I were to go back in time, I'd probably pick either a 100% practical Algo book or something like CLRS for very rigorous understanding.

Many people get a feeling of satisfaction when they solve a difficult problem, but computer scientists get excited when they solve the problem of how to get a computer to solve the problem.

One of Skiena's "war stories" tells of making a program run 30,000 times faster by using a better-designed algorithm. A lot of people might enjoy this, but I feel that having the mathematical understanding of algorithms and the proofs to back it up will greatly increase your understanding of the material.

the book is an algorithm-implementation treasure trove, and putting all of these implementations in one place was no small feat. It has all the right ingredients: rich contents, friendly, personal language, subtle humor, the right references, and a plethora of pointers to resources. The list of implementations [and] extensive bibliography make the book an invaluable resource for everyone interested in the subject.

The reader-friendly Algorithm Design Manual provides straightforward access to combinatorial algorithms technology, stressing design over analysis. The second part, Resources, is intended for browsing and reference, and comprises the catalog of algorithmic resources, implementations and an extensive bibliography. The first part, Techniques, provides accessible instruction on methods for designing and analyzing computer algorithms. There were some instances (graph algorithms) where the code in Skiena was taken straight out of CLRS. This second edition has updated the bibliography to include recent works, making it an extensive bibliography.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Clear explainers are interspersed with practical war stories, where Skiena explains how he applied the technique just discussed to solve a previously intractable problem. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.

Every programmer should read this book, and anyone working in the field should keep it close to hand - The Algorithm Design Manual is not just for use on university courses. But regardless, the reason for the 3 stars is that this book tries to straddle the middle of being a practical interview prep book and being a proof heavy, theoretical Algo book. In short, this is a book every decent programmer should read at least once, besides it works also as a algorithms/data structures encyclopedia that always comes handy. In a mature ecosystem like Python, a lot of the time the right answer is just "pip install magiclib. This book is a practical, example-driven book on computer science algorithms, which is very readable and has a wealth of ready-to-use examples.

The text is very accessible to read and the pictures help to visualise and understand what's going on. Throughout, the emphasis is on good problem modelling, which is essential to get an algorithm to work. Every programmer should read this book, and anyone working in the field should keep it close to hand.For a decade, Steven Skiena's Algorithm Design Manual retained its title as the best and most comprehensive practical algorithm guide to help identify and solve problems.