The Algorithm Design Manual: Amazon.co.uk: Steven S. Skiena: Books

Review

From the reviews of the second edition: "...the book is an algorithm implementation treasure trove, and putting all of these implementations in one place was no small feat. The list of implementations, an extensive bibliography … make the book an invaluable resource for everyone interested in the subject." (ACM Computing Reviews) "My absolute favorite for this kind of interview preparation is Steven Skiena’s The Algorithm Design Manual. More than any other book it helped me understand just how astonishingly commonplace … graph problems are -- they should be part of every working programmer’s toolkit. The book also covers basic data structures and sorting algorithms, which is a nice bonus. … every 1 – pager has a simple picture, making it easy to remember. This is a great way to learn how to identify hundreds of problem types." (Steve Yegge, Steve Yegge’s Blog, March, 2008) "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. It is now available in an improved second edition that is worth buying simply for the updates. … Every programmer should read this book, and anyone working in the field should keep it close to hand. … Would I recommend it? Absolutely. This is the best investment … a programmer or aspiring programmer can make." (Harold Thimbleby, Times Higher Education, November, 2008) "Addressing the main difficulties of solving problems, this book goes far beyond the design of algorithms. It is essential for scientists, engineers, and any professionals who aim to solve problems, with a noticeable emphasis on real problems. It will not only serve as a valuable undergraduate textbook, but it will also become an irreplaceable reference guide for most professionals in the area." (Carlos Linares Lopez, Computing Reviews, February, 2009) "Skiena focuses on the practical aspects of algorithm design and use. … this work fills an important gap in the knowledge of CS practitioners and students. … this book is suitable as a text for an undergraduate algorithms class, but also as an invaluable reference for the practicing programmer. … This second edition has updated the bibliography to include recent works, making it an extensive bibliography. The index is also thorough and very useful for finding specific problems." (William Fahle, ACM Computing Reviews, December, 2008) “Algorithms are the very heart of computing … . This book is about right for most people. … Each of the topics is treated in a readable informal style with lots of asides and accounts of personal experiences - ‘war stories’ in implementing algorithms. … If you want to use it as a course textbook then there are lots of exercises at the end of every chapter. Highly recommended.” (Mike James, I Programmer, September, 2009) “The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena is aimed at two groups of people: students and professionals. … It is written in an informal style that I found pleasant and engaging. … The book’s unique structure makes it more likely to be immediately useful to the practitioner who has problem to solve and wants to quickly make progress … . the book succeeds admirably. … would be helpful to the student who has never seen this material before. … Overall, I recommend this book warmly.” (Neelakantan Kartha, The Book Review Column, 2011)

Review

From the reviews of the second edition: "...the book is an algorithm implementation treasure trove, and putting all of these implementations in one place was no small feat. The list of implementations, an extensive bibliography ! make the book an invaluable resource for everyone interested in the subject." (ACM Computing Reviews) "My absolute favorite for this kind of interview preparation is Steven Skiena's The Algorithm Design Manual. More than any other book it helped me understand just how astonishingly commonplace ! graph problems are -- they should be part of every working programmer's toolkit. The book also covers basic data structures and sorting algorithms, which is a nice bonus. ! every 1 -- pager has a simple picture, making it easy to remember. This is a great way to learn how to identify hundreds of problem types." (Steve Yegge, Steve Yegge's Blog, March, 2008) "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. It is now available in an improved second edition that is worth buying simply for the updates. ! Every programmer should read this book, and anyone working in the field should keep it close to hand. ! Would I recommend it? Absolutely. This is the best investment ! a programmer or aspiring programmer can make." (Harold Thimbleby, Times Higher Education, November, 2008) "Addressing the main difficulties of solving problems, this book goes far beyond the design of algorithms. It is essential for scientists, engineers, and any professionals who aim to solve problems, with a noticeable emphasis on real problems. It will not only serve as a valuable undergraduate textbook, but it will also become an irreplaceable reference guide for most professionals in the area." (Carlos Linares Lopez, Computing Reviews, February, 2009) "Skiena focuses on the practical aspects of algorithm design and use. ! this work fills an important gap in the knowledge of CS practitioners and students. ! this book is suitable as a text for an undergraduate algorithms class, but also as an invaluable reference for the practicing programmer. ! This second edition has updated the bibliography to include recent works, making it an extensive bibliography. The index is also thorough and very useful for finding specific problems." (William Fahle, ACM Computing Reviews, December, 2008) "Algorithms are the very heart of computing ! . This book is about right for most people. ! Each of the topics is treated in a readable informal style with lots of asides and accounts of personal experiences - 'war stories' in implementing algorithms. ! If you want to use it as a course textbook then there are lots of exercises at the end of every chapter. Highly recommended." (Mike James, I Programmer, September, 2009) "The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena is aimed at two groups of people: students and professionals. ! It is written in an informal style that I found pleasant and engaging. ! The book's unique structure makes it more likely to be immediately useful to the practitioner who has problem to solve and wants to quickly make progress ! . the book succeeds admirably. ! would be helpful to the student who has never seen this material before. ! Overall, I recommend this book warmly." (Neelakantan Kartha, The Book Review Column, 2011) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

1 star

3.7 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

Quite Superficial 8 July 2010

By a reader

Format:Hardcover

This book gives an extremely wordy yet superficial explanation of a lot of algorithms, it goes to great lengths to describe the problem but doesn't really go into enough depth on anything but the basics to be immediately useful in formulating a solution. I know this has quite a few good reviews, so I guess people have found it useful, but personally I would say wikipedia is a much better source for information about a lot of the things discussed in this book, both in terms of depth of information and succinctness. The book is useful as an index into the wider world of algorithms but quite why it took the author 700 pages to achieve this is beyond me.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Good coverage but presentation is not good 14 May 2012

By BrianK

First the pros: in terms of coverage, this book gives a good introduction to, and listing of, algorithms. The catalog that makes up the second half looks like an extremely useful reference (although I haven't had a chance to use it as such as I've only finished the book). The "War Stories" (sample real-world problems that the author has had to solve presented in a chatty style) are a good idea.

Now, the cons. I believe it really falls down on presentation.

1. Often poor explanations. I often found myself rereading lines/paragraphs over & over to try to get the meaning. Then going to wikipedia where the particular issue was clearly & concisely explained. The most cursory proofreading by a student could have easily pointed out the missing word/line that would have clarified the text. Also, the structure is out of order - sometimes reference is made to terms that are not explained until later in the text.

2. Mistakes. The book is full of mistakes. Typos, grammar, but worst of all - and this is unforgivable - code errors. I spent hours looking at one code solution wondering why I couldnt understand it. I finally suspected the problem was not with me & subsequently found this list of errata on the web: [...]. If you do buy this book I strongly urge you to check if your revision has these errors and, if so, correct them before you start reading. I cannot understand how this book got to a second edition (and God knows how many revisions) without correcting these errors. Some of them are crucial - code won't work with them. Even the word "not" is in one line when it shouldn't be!! This is unbelievably sloppy. Has noone actually proofread this book at all?

Its a shame the presentation is so poor. If I spent an hour or two with the author after reading it, I believe I could help him to substantially improve it in terms of presentation. With better presentation, I believe it would be a very worthwhile read.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

Nice book but misses some important topics 8 Mar 2011

By Felipe Ribeiro

It's a very nice book to read with a straight to the point approach, but I missed something deeper about trees and other things that Introduction to Algorithms covers more completely.