Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime free trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn more
Buy Used
Used - Like New See details
Price: £7.79

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
or
Get a £1.30 Amazon.co.uk Gift Card
Puzzles for Programmers and Pros
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Puzzles for Programmers and Pros [Paperback]

Dennis Shasha
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £15.99
Price: £11.19 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £4.80 (30%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.
Only 6 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want guaranteed delivery by Saturday, June 2? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Paperback £11.19  
Unknown Binding --  
Trade In this Item for up to £1.30
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Puzzles for Programmers and Pros for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £1.30, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.

Frequently Bought Together

Puzzles for Programmers and Pros + Programming Interviews Exposed: Secrets to Landing Your Next Job (Programmer to Programmer) + How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle - How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers
Price For All Three: £33.82

Some of these items are dispatched sooner than the others. Show details

Buy the selected items together


Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; illustrated edition edition (15 May 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0470121688
  • ISBN-13: 978-0470121689
  • Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 18 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 294,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

More About the Author

Dennis Elliott Shasha
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's Dennis Elliott Shasha Page

Product Description

Product Description

  • Aimed at both working programmers who are applying for a job where puzzles are an integral part of the interview, as well as techies who just love a good puzzle, this book offers a cache of exciting puzzles
  • Features a new series of puzzles, never before published, called elimination puzzles that have a pedagogical aim of helping the reader solve an entire class of Sudoku–like puzzles
  • Provides the tools to solve the puzzles by hand and computer
  • The first part of each chapter presents a puzzle; the second part shows readers how to solve several classes of puzzles algorithmically; the third part asks the reader to solve a mystery involving codes, puzzles, and geography
  • Comes with a unique bonus: if readers actually solve the mystery, they have a chance to win a prize, which will be promoted on wrox.com!

From the Back Cover

Puzzles for Programmers and Pros

Solving puzzles demands a mindset that starts with a vulnerable openness followed by a rigorous drive to find a solution. Whether you′re preparing for a programming job interview or just like a challenge, this book takes you on a tour of problem–solving techniques so you can dramatically improve your skills. You′ll learn how to conquer simple elimination puzzles like Sudoku and how to apply heuristic techniques to far more complex problems.

Dr. Shasha provides you with the tools to solve several classes of puzzles by handand computer. These include scheduling,strategic, geometric, and probabilistic puzzles. You′ll also find a mystery involving codes, bank accounts, and geography that you can solve for the chance to win a prize. The approaches and techniques in this book will help you solve the kind of application puzzles the real world may throw at you.

What you will learn from this book

  • How to expand your puzzle–solving abilities and tackle new challenges
  • Proven steps that will help you quickly progress from basic puzzles to a more advanced level

  • How to prepare for various types of puzzles presented during a programming interview

  • Techniques for determining the best solution to a puzzle

  • Methods for solving puzzles using decryption and combinatorics

Who this book is for
This book is for programmers who need to brush up on their puzzle–solving skills as they prepare for the programming job interview. It is also for anyone who love puzzles and challenges.

Wrox guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think, providing a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.


Inside This Book (Learn More)
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more


Customer Reviews

5 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Jack77
Format:Paperback
Good book, but I consider "Programming Interviews Exposed" better, for me.
"Puzzles for Programmers and Pros" is more dedicated and more specific for these type of "Microsoft" & "Google" interview questions.
At least that's my reason for purchasing these books.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
0 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Hard but good 13 May 2010
Format:Paperback
If you are a lot into puzzes, you probably do not need this book. If you are not into puzzles you probably will not enjoy it either. if you are somehow into puzzes this is the book for you!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  9 reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Analysis 7 Jan 2008
By R. Ordonez - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The book contains a set of really good puzzles. Solving the puzzles will keep you entertained for days. However, the descriptions of many puzzles are too long. I am not sure if you would encouter most of the puzzles described in this book in job interviews. However the content and the complexity of the puzzles are definitely of high quality.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Good book for brain teasing and interview 28 May 2008
By Yi Feng - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book presents a number of puzzles, of different difficult level, with proposed solutions. In general, the puzzles are not very hard to solve if you follow the hint/guide by the author, and can be done in reasonable time. It is a good practice if you are going through a number of interviews for technical positions. It can also serve as a spare time reading for those doing research in algorithm engineering.

The language of the book is a bit descriptive, not as formal and precise as I expected. This is a personal preference and I know some folks love this type of language. Given the price and content, I would give it 4 stars.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Pratical examples of algorithm in action 29 May 2008
By K. Wang - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Before reading this book, I actually did not know how to use the dynamic programming algorithm in practice. This books taught me in one page from "Sweet Packs" puzzle. The solution is so simple and elegance that I can still remember it almost a year later. I was surprised to see how an ordinary problem can be solved with an old algorithm from a different perspective.

This book is unique. Unlike other puzzle book, it's dedicated for programmers. And I think doing puzzle from time to time may help improve brain function. Some of the problems can be hard. If you want some simple puzzles for interview, you may also try this book "How would you move mount Fuji? - Microsoft's cult of puzzle".
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 

Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   


Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges