Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 720 pages
- Published by: Addison-Wesley Professional
- Edition: 3rd Edition September 27, 1997
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0201314525
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0201314526
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Book Dimensions:
9.1 x 7.7 x 1 inches
- Weighs: 2.4 pounds
Book Info
Covers fundamental data structures and algorithms for sorting, searching, and related applications. Includes expanded coverage of arrays, linked lists, strings, trees, and other basic data structures. Contains many examples. Paper. DLC: C (Computer program language)
Back Cover Copy
- Steve Summit, author of C Programming FAQs Sedgewick has a real gift for explaining concepts in a way that makes them easy to understand. The use of real programs in page-size (or less) chunks that can be easily understood is a real plus. The figures, programs, and tables are a significant contribution to the learning experience of the reader; they make this book distinctive.
- William A. Ward, University of South Alabama
Robert Sedgewick has thoroughly rewritten and substantially expanded his popular work to provide current and comprehensive coverage of important algorithms and data structures. Many new algorithms are presented, and the explanations of each algorithm are much more detailed than in previous editions. A new text design and detailed, innovative figures, with accompanying commentary, greatly enhance the presentation. The third edition retains the successful blend of theory and practice that has made Sedgewick's work an invaluable resource for more than 250,000 programmers!
This particular book, Parts 1-4, represents the essential first half of Sedgewick's complete work. It provides extensive coverage of fundamental data structures and algorithms for sorting, searching, and related applications. The algorithms and data structures are expressed in concise implementations in C, so that you can both appreciate their fundamental properties and test them on real applications. Of course, the substance of the book applies to programming in any language.
Highlights
- Expanded coverage of arrays, linked lists, strings, trees, and other basic data structures
- Greater emphasis on abstract data types (ADTs) than in previous editions
- Over 100 algorithms for sorting, selection, priority queue ADT implementations, and symbol table ADT (searching) implementations
- New implementations of binomial queues, multiway radix sorting, Batcher's sorting networks, randomized BSTs, splay trees, skip lists, multiway tries, and much more
- Increased quantitative information about the algorithms, including extensive empirical studies and basic analytic studies, giving you a basis for comparing them
- Over 1000 new exercises to help you learn the properties of algorithms
Whether you are a student learning the algorithms for the first time or a professional interested in having up-to-date reference material, you will find a wealth of useful information in this book.
0201314525B04062001
Reader Reviews
There are many books about algorithms, just a few can impress and influence people acting on the very threshold between theoretical research and development of complex software. Robert Sedgewick codes very carefully. Some readers might even fail to recognize the fine details in his code. Try to analyse even the simplest 2-3 liners. Compare the program 4.5 (Linked list implementation of a pushdown stack) or 4.10 (FIFO queue linked list implementation) to similar examples given by lesser authors, figure out the the percentage of redundant code given by others compared to this examples (it is 50% to 300% faster for this elementary cases!). Another example: Look at the insertion sort with a sentinel. I am not aware of any other book showing this simple improvement. Also none of the insertion sorts which I saw in the practice use this so tiny add-on sentinel to achieve the quite dramatic speedup of the process. Naturally, in the time of 700MHz processors here and there a couple of extra instructions might appear unimportant, but I disagree. This is a book showing the basic algorithmics and programming practices in their best, down to the "two liners", regardless what the complexity of the task is. These little "pearls" of coding are in the real world running countless times behind the scenes and are important. Look carefully, learn, master to code as he does! As a very modern text, this is one of the few books dealing at least with some of the newer algorithms, like the skip lists or sorting networks. Not enough, though. Maybe we will see more in the next volume. There are also some omitions of the basic algorithms, which I would expect to be in such a book. See the rather terse chapter 7.8 about selection methods and look into Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest to see what I mean. Despite such complaints, in my eyes this book occupies the worlds top-level rank among texts about algorithms for people who really make software and not just call library functions. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next volume being in preparation. My (standard) point of criticism is that too many exercises are without answers and actually some of them are so complex that a nice chapter with yet some more algorithms would be in place. But almost every book about algorithms has this fault. On the end of a chapter you often see: Improve this, solve that. Its not good enough for a practitioner but it serves purpose for students. Extraordinary are the illustrations of algorithm visualizations which I like so much in this book. My tribut to the author to NOT to use the questionable quotes of famous people on the begin of each chapter, as it lately became an annoying habit. One of the worse examples of such a quote were the alleged words of Albert Einstein "make it as simple as possible but not simpler" placed in an book about C++ (what is a contradiction in itself and quite a presumption on authors part putting himself on a pedestal with... Einstein.) But exactly such a quote might almost be applied to this text. Congratulations Mr. Sedgewick!
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