The best thing about Master Algorithms in Perl is the scope with which it covers the universe of algorithms, while refraining from getting bogged down in academic detail. Besides providing basic data structures (a lynchpin of books on algorithms), the authors provide dozens of algorithms for sorting, searching and doing mathematical computation of all kinds. While they discuss "Big-O" notation and assume a general familiarity with math, they don't overwhelm the reader. (You can even borrow the code here without a math degree to understand it.) The focus here is on efficient, re-usable Perl subroutines written and compiled by three Perl experts.

Standout chapters include extending Perl's already powerful string processing abilities, game programming and cryptography. Generally, the authors achieve a good mix of advanced and less well-known algorithms, along with the basics. Chances are you won't need to use all the dozen or so sorting algorithms presented here, but the authors include them all, just in case. As a reference and tutorial, readers can pick and choose what they need for real world Perl development.

There hasn't been a book dedicated exclusively to Perl algorithms prior to the publication of this one. In all, Mastering Algorithms in Perl fills a useful niche by compiling a powerful library of Perl algorithms that will be useful for anyone who works with this programming language, whether in business or academic computing. - -Richard Dragan,Amazon.com

Topics covered: Perl data types, Big-O notation, data structures, queues, deques, linked lists, binary trees, sorting and searching algorithms, game and dynamic programming, sets and multisets, matrices, graphs, string matching and parsing, 2-D geometry, number systems, cryptography (including DES and RSA), probability, statistics and numerical analysis. --Amazon.com

Garrett Goebel, Kansas City Perl Mongers, Jan 2003
No other Perl book comes close to the breadth and depth coverage of these materials.

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