Rating: 
Summary: Good general book
Review: Pros: - Good general book for basic algorithm stuff.
- Tons of basic algorithms.
- Thorough in proofs.
- Very easy to follow once in case you have enough Math background (by either being a grad student or else if undergrad, read the first few chapters as well as Appendices well in advance to the course (Spend time solving the exercises and get familiar with the notation etc. before taking the course) Cons:- - I don't consider it a good idea to write algorithms with index starting from 1 instead of 0? Most popular languages used in the industry, have arrays starting from zero. - Most professors that I have discussed it with agree that this is not the best book for the subject but probably the only one with this much material in it.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm rather ambivalent about the book
Review: I purchased the book because it was required for my undergraduate algorithm analysis class. My experience so far has been terrible. My instructor was incapable of getting across even the basic concepts and he was constantly making mistakes and backpedaling. It didn't help either that he didn't make the slides used in the class and only saw them for the first time when he walked into the class. All of this and a weak background preparatory at the beginning of the class made the book a rather excruciating book to learn from. It is indeed a book of depth and knowledge, but it can be used against you as easily as it can be used for your advancement. Due to my bad experience, I'm inclined to look at CLR rather negatively. I would dearly love to take another algorithm class with a truely competent instructor but since there isn't one in my immediate future, it'll be a while before I'm given a chance to revise my opinion of the book. The book can be an excellent source of algorithmatic knowledge but it's hardly an "introduction" for the beginners and used wrong will very easily dampen any futher computer science ambitions.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic textbook and reference for everyday needs
Review: The "Introduction to Algorithms" book is well-known to those people that are related to Computer Science. It is a very well written book that proved entertaining and challenging when it was the primary text for our Algorithms class, as well as handy when confronted with real-life applications of the algorithms presented. I found the exercises very good, and I liked the fact that the chapters were self-containing. The sections on linear sorting and hashing are very practical, in my opinion, but I suppose the same could be said about most of the other chapters. Well-deserved 5 stars from me!
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!
Review: I purchased this book as a supplemental text for my data structures class, since its not used in my school till the masters program. I actually found it easier to understand then the book we were using in the actual class. Hats off to Cormen and all who contributed.
Rating:
Summary: best book on algorithms
Review: this is possibly the best book for the course 'Data structures and analysis of algorithms'.Knuth is far too advanced and many others are not even worth mentioning.
The best part is that it is very perspicuous but does not compromise on mathematical rigour.The proofs of correctness are very elegant as are the detalied analyses of all the algorithms.Actually,the mathematical approach that the authors employ is very enjoyable.A full section devoted to the mathematical tools is a very good idea.
All the topics viz. data structures, sorting techniques,graphs,design techniques like dynamic programming,greedy algorithms,Divide-n-conquer r given in extensive detail.(since i m only a second yr under grad student,i havent read the more advanced topics like FFT,computational geometry,NP-completeness.)
The exercises make you think and test both mathematical acumen and programming dexterity.many of them require a fair bit of creativity.
As another reviewer pointed out, this book is the one for budding computer scientists and software engineers,not for the 'learn XYZ in 21 hours' fans.
a bit of background in a structured programming language(Pascal ,C etc.) and more importantly,knowledge of the fundamentals of discrete mathematics is required.
A must buy for all CS students.
Rating: 
Summary: Substandard
Review: This book is not for the visually oriented, nor is it useful as a reference, as it makes numerous obscure references to single-letter variables defined in other chapters. Furthermore, it uses a "Bottom-Up" approach to teaching, meaning that it attempts to convey the topics in their entirety at the lowest level without ever resorting to the use of concepts. The algorithms this book discusses in gory detail are, for the most part, trivial extrapolations of more fundamental concepts that any intelligent undergraduate should be able to invent on his own without resort to any book, assuming that he had been adequately exposed to the more fundamental concepts. Furthermore, it is as if the authors of the book would have the students memorize their algorithms step-by-step, leaving intuition at the doorstep. Also troublesome is the fact that this book does not concern itself with matters affecting real computer scientists such as how to implement the discussed algorithms in an efficient manner on a "real" hierarchical-memory pipelined system. I would recommend this book only to students seeking a very boring read on a rainy sunday. Serious students should stick to TAOCP.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent choice!
Review: I had heard much about this book before I purchased it but since it was never required I had never actually looked at it until recently. Well its reputation is well deserved. This book is certainly COMPREHENSIVE if nothing else. I cannot imagine a common algorithm that is not explained and analyzed in this book, from Discrete Fourier Transform to Computational Geometry it is all here. Also I like the fact that the material is presented in such a way that it is easy to study by yourself. The style is informal, and although rigorous proofs are also provided the emphasis is on the intuition behind the algorithm. There are substantial appendices and an easy introduction section, such that you need very little mathematical background at all to be able to benefit from this text. Overall, I cannot imagine that there is another algorithms textbook that is as comprehensive and rigorous as this one. The only downside is that it is very hefty and correspondingly expensive. But if you are a novice in algorithms and want an easy to follow text I can highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Explanations good, pseduocode bad
Review: I am currently using this book for a Computer Science course. It's explanations are great, but the pseudocode is horrible. I have to write programs based on the book's pseudocode and I spend most of my time deciphering the meaning of all the symbols. Having one letter variable names does not help either. Maybe the authors could have base their pseudocode on a real language. One good aspect of the pseudocode is that is does work once you decipher it.
All in all, it is a good book for learning algorithms. I just get rather frustrated trying to implement the book's examples using their pseudocode.
Rating:
Summary: book almost every computer science student recognizes
Review: Over the past two years I have taken both undergraduate and graduate level algorithms classes that used this textbook. I often had this book in my car, or on my desk at work, and people would come up and comment on it as if it was a long lost friend! This is truly a fanatastic effort, and there is a good reason that so many engineers are familiar with this book. If I were to teach an algorithms class myself I would certainly use it. I know some people do not like the psuedocode that is used, but I think that it is ok, once you get used to it. One reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because the "new edition" seems to really only have small changes in it. I used the first edition for my undergraduate class, and less than a year later had to buy the 2nd edition for my graduate class :-( I found this rather annoying. It seems like the authors reorganized the book just to extract more money out of students like myself, so that I would have to buy 2 copies instead of being able to use the same book in more than one semester. I will have a hard time reselling the first edition now as well. I know that this is a common practice in the textbook industry, but that does not make it right. The changes in the second edition seem to be very minor, and not worth shelling out another large chunk of money.
Rating:
Summary: Psuedo Code Leaves Something To Be Desired
Review: I'm using this book as part of a graduate class in Algorithms. I've got an undergrad in Math and CS and have developed code in C/C++, Java, Perl, etc. The pseudo code in the book is ambiguous from the point of view of either a student of math or a software developer. In either case you have more rigor and you expect to be able to read most of it alone, as it stands. In a "real" programming language you usually find variable names that are more descriptive than a single letter. You may even find a variable declaration that gives you the type, and if you're lucky a comment that describes it further. Math proofs usually start out with an introduction that serves a simillar purpose. The pseudo code in the book doesn't do much of eitehr. It doesn't make as much sense when read stand-alone as a proof or "real" code. The trick is to carefully read the text along with the pseudo code.
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