Introduction to Algorithms, Second Edition

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Summary: This is the bible on algorithms.
Review: I feel the only reason why this book gets any bad reviews is because the title "Introduction to Algorithms" is kind of misleading. The text is extremely technical, requires a pretty serious mathematical background, and is geared towards computer scientists, not programmers (yes, there is a huge difference).

If you are a self taught programmer with no formal background in the field of computer science, this book is probably going to be way over you head.

Regarding the pseudocode, it is pseudocode! It is not a real language. If you do not understand what pseudocode is, you need to go back to CS 101.

About the book not providing answers to the exercises, I think this book is mainly used as a university text. Your professor should choose which exercises you should attempt and then go over the answers in class. It would be nice if maybe a seperate answer book was available.

Now I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I understand even half of the book, but I do understand what the book is. It is a pretty standard text that very technically examines many computer algorithms.

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Summary: My personal library about Algorithms and Data Structures
Review: "Algorithms and Data Structures" is a huge field.
Lot of algorithms and data structures are used in todays computer software of variuos types. Not all data structures or algorithms on them are adequate for solving a particular problem, so you must have some skills to say which one is "better" than another in your particular situation. Despite it's name, this book is an almost complete reference to achieve this skills. Sure, material presented here is not so easy and the book is not something you can read while watching MTV. Each chapter presents an argument in a very concise and formal way. Too much for some people, but this is not bad. Just skipping what you don't/want understand is the primary key to appreciate this book. When you will master the main concepts of the argument you are interested, it's a pleasure returning on those parts you have precedently skipped.
Parts about sorting and selections (heapsort, quicksort, linear sorting, etc.), common data structures (stacks and queues, hash tables, search binary trees, red-black trees), advanced data structures (B trees, binomial heaps, Fibonacci's heaps etc.) and algorithms on graphs (depth first traversal, minimum set cover, Kruskal and Prim's algorithms, Bellman-Ford's method, Dijkstra's algorithm) are well written and you can consider this parts as a reference for the future.
But this book as bad things too. The pseudocode, even if comprehensible, is not so much readable. In some cases it's too much dependent by the contest and this increase your understanding time. Chapters about math reference are not clear at all. Too much arguments without too much explanations, especially sections about algorithm's analisys. The last part of this book about complements and extensions could be easily dropped off from the book. Material presented here don't fit in an introductory text about algorithms and needs other knowledge a person who is reading this book obviously don't has.
A note on what that particular data structure is useful for would be very appreciated. Good book. Well spent money.

Rating:
Summary: No, the pseudocode is not APL
Review: I am one of the authors of this book. I read the reviews on occasion, and I have refrained on commenting on them--until now.

Two recent reviews claim that the pseudocode is APL. That is incorrect. The pseudocode is not APL. It is not even close to APL. The only reason I can even imagine that one might think that it's APL is that we use a left arrow for assignment, as APL does. I have actually written quite a bit of APL code in my time, and I know for a fact that our pseudocode is not APL.

I grant that not everyone likes our pseudocode. That is a matter of taste, and I will not deny anyone their opinion. Similarly, there have been other complaints that are matters of opinion, and I have no issue with people posting their opinions.

But get your facts right. To those who think that our pseudocode is APL: You are way off the mark.

For those of you who prefer your algorithms expressed in a real, runnable programming language, please note that McGraw-Hill offers a version of the book that comes with a CD containing complete Java implementations of all the algorithms in Parts I through VI.

(By the way, I wanted to leave the number of stars blank in this review, but the Amazon software demands that I give it 1 to 5 stars. So I'm entering my opinion, which is 5 stars. I admit to just a hint of bias.)

Rating:
Summary: The worst text I have ever seen
Review: In my 20 years in the computer industry I have seen a lot of textbooks.
This text is by far the worst book I have ever seen on any subject.

1) The psuedo code is worthless unless you are very familiar with the dead language APL. Why not use a language that some of the readers might have actually seen before?

2) The explanations seem intentionally convoluted. The author is more interested in trying to show how smart he is instead of helping the reader to understand the material. He skips numerous mathematical steps in almost every example. Giving the impression of finding the results by magic. The reader should not be forced to figure out the procedure by trial and error.

3) There are no answers to any of the exercises. The arrogance this displays is truly astounding. Does the author truly believe that the problems are so trivial that the answers are self-evident? If they were trivial then there would be no need for a text at all, we could just absorb the knowledge from the ether as the author seem to think we can.

4) The author never shows the reader how to put any of the algorithms to any practical use.

Here's the test for a good book. Can a person of reasonable intelligence, given this book, and enough time, learn the material unassisted? If the answer is no, then the author failed to do his job.

Rating:
Summary: great reference, bad teacher
Review: This wouldn't be the book I'd choose for an introductory algorithms class; it's a bit dense at times. However, it's an excellent reference, one of the few textbooks i've kept and will make use of.

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Summary: It's a standard, but...
Review: While many have noted how Thomas Corwen and his co-authors have added a scholarly touch to this subject with plenty of proofs it does not make for a good text. One can argue that this book should supplement the instructor's teachings. That would be fine except for the fact that there are no answers to the problems. Therefore, a student has no idea if he or she is on the right track.
To this end Corwen snidely replies on his website that any student asking for the answer will have his or her name posted as a potential cheater since Corwen believes that instructors should be able to use his problems as homework. Here's an idea, how about instructors developing their own problems!
Corwen also does not relate the material in plain English as someone like Frank Carrano does. There are other sources of many of the concepts like binary search trees, sorting algorithms, O-notation. The only thing Corwen is adding is lots of proof and mathematical shorthand.
If you are interested in the mathematical concepts behind the algorithms this is a fine introduction. If you are interested in the algorithmic concepts, this is not for you. Ultimately if you are a student whose instructor will be using this book, you have no choice about buying it. If you are an instructor, however, look at another book to supplement your teachings.