It's not usually useful, per se, unless you are able to refer to it during programming competitions, or if you're implementing a runtime library and want to bru

It's not usually useful, per se, unless you are able to refer to it during programming competitions, or if you're implementing a runtime library and want to brush up on the tradeoffs of some low level algorithms - but even then, the state of the art for e.g. sorting is outside the books. I think the reader is improved for having read it, because it can open one's eyes to the fractal detail of solutions to coding problems.