4 ms·
> books and papers about algorithms are often dry and unmotivating. If you don't like standard textbook treatments like CLRS, you might like these: Introductio
by psykotic 14y ago
> books and papers about algorithms are often dry and unmotivating.
If you don't like standard textbook treatments like CLRS, you might like these: Introduction to Algorithms - A Creative Approach by Udi Manber (out of print but worth getting). Algorithm Design by Klein and Tardos. How to Think About Algorithms by Jeff Edmonds. Jeff Erickson's lecture notes on algorithms: http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/~jeffe/teaching/algorithms/ http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/~jeffe/teaching/algorithms/
Jon Bentley's Programming Pearls is about what I'd call algorithm engineering. The algorithms are never anything fancy but it's a good example of algorithms applied to real-world problems. It's possibly the best single book on programming I know. Make sure to do all the exercises.
- breckinloggins 14y agoThanks! I'll take a look. It's not so much that I don't like them, it's that I seem to be able to "get into" a paper or textbook after I understand what's so cool about what they're talking about.
- petercooper 14y agoIn that case Programming Pearls will probably be a breath of fresh air. It doesn't start from the algorithm but from the problem to be solved and tends to first dip into the most naive solution before rationalizing why specific approaches are important.
- abhijat 14y agoFrom that perspective Skiena's book is also good, as it offers war stories where you can see first hand some of the implementations of the algorithms mentioned.
- petercooper 14y agoCool! I've now ordered it based on this comment alone.. :-)
- lallysingh 14y agoI'd like to shove in Skiena's Algorithm Design Manual. Very readable, great coverage.