Algorithms in C++, Parts 1-4: Fundamentals, Data Structure, Sorting, Searching

by Robert Sedgewick

Book Overview

Robert Sedgewick has thoroughly rewritten and substantially expanded and updated his popular work to provide current and comprehensive coverage of important algorithms and data structures. Christopher Van Wyk and Sedgewick have developed new C++ implementations that both express the methods in a concise and direct manner, and also provide programmers with the practical means to test them on real applications. Many new algorithms are presented, and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0201350882
• ISBN13: 9780201350883
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Length: 752 Pages
• Weight: 2.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.7" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

If you want to _really_ understand red-black trees.....

Any professional programmer would benefit from having these books at hand. Excellent discussions of the basic algorithms which every programmer needs to know. But I would like to particularly highlight the discussions on binary and n-ary search trees. The most enlightening discussion in print, giving the reader a real synoptic view of search tree algorithms, how they evolved, and their culmination in red-black trees. Other reviewers have mentioned that the algorithms as presented here seem to be just warmed=over versions of their C counterparts presented in the C edition of this work. There is a germ of truth to this, but I really don't consider it to be a valid criticism of the books. The point here is not to present C++ coding techniques, but to understand algorithms. If you want to know what a state-of-the art C++ implementation of Red-Black trees looks like, just read the source code which comes with the GNU compiler toolchain. But you're not going to have a prayer of understanding it until you first understand how Red-black trees work--that's where this book comes in. If you are trying to explain the Red-black tree algorithm, you don't want all of the C++ do-dads and optimizations, templates, etc, all cluttering up the presentation of the skeletal algorithm.

Excellent, Exhaustive (but not rigorous)

If you're looking for an exhaustive, upto-date reference/textbook for fundamental, searching and sorting algorithms, then this is one of the very best available. Sedgewick has split his popular book into two volumes, with Graph algorithms being hifted to the second volume. Moreover, many advanced topics like computational geometry, fft, number theoretic algorithms etc, which were introduced in the previous edition, seem to be missing now - so the breadth of coverage seems to have reduced, which is a pity. However, the depth has increased instead - i doubt that even Knuth covers more sorting algorithms ! In particular, there are several recent algorithms and data structures which are treated in greater detail here than by Knuth. Of course, Knuth analyses all the algorithms he presents in rigorous and exhaustive detail, which this book doesn't. Moreover, the book has many new algorithms and presents the state of the art in sorting and searching algorithms, giving it a distinct advantage over the older books. Sedgewick makes it very clear in the preface that the emphasis is on the practical importance of the algorithms, so esoteric algorithms which are important 'only in theory' may find no mention. Also the emphasis is more on the design of algorithms than on their analysis. The number of (exercise!!) problems has multiplied manifold in this edition to become more than most competing textbooks. Problems are graded by difficulty level to help you choose the ones relevant to your needs.The exposition is clear and authoritative - Prof. Sedgewick is a leading authority in the field of algorithms and a student of Donald Knuth. He has a gift for making difficult concepts seem simple, and the great illustrations in the book go a long way in explaining the behaviour of the algorithms. For the practising professional, this is an ideal reference, since it'll help you select the best algorithm for your task without bogging you down with heavy mathematics. The reasearcher, on the other hand, may benefit by gaining unique insights from a master of the area, while using other books for the detailed analysis of algorithms, including prehaps Sedgewick's own book on the analysis of algorithms(with Flajolet). A caveat - the code may not be 'ready to run'. It's better not to rely on this book to provide you with usable code - if that is what you want, perhaps the books by Drozdek/Weiss/Heileman/Rowe might be better choices. If you want C code rather than C++, then the C version of this book is a good choice, since the code provided is of 'K & R' class and therefore a delight to read. Of course, if you're looking for a language independent coverage, then 'Introduction to algorithms' by Cormen,Leiserson and Rivest is possibly the best book which combines rigor with comprehensive coverage of the most important algorithms. Look out for the newly released second edition. And if you want a more rig

good algorithm book for programmers

This book delivers what it says on the title and nothing more; Fundamentals, data structures, sorting, and searching. In my opinion, the topics covered in this book are just perfect for beginners. Its not too much and not too little. This book does a very good of explaining the pros and cons of each algorithm, how they're implemented, and when they should be used. As far as Math. goes, this book doesn't deal a whole lot with it. It really is written for programmers.

MUCH better than his previous "C++" work...

If at first you don't succeed...Sedgewick's first cut at "Algorithms in C++" was a sick joke; the code was often incorrect and very difficult for even an intermediate C programmer to follow. In addition, there was virtually no difference between the C and C++ algorithms. In fact, that's why I put C++ in quotes in the title -- calling it representative C++ code was an extreme stretch.It took several years, but Sedgewick has fixed that and has turned this work into one which better realizes its full potential. There is now a much stronger C++ and OOP flavor to the examples than there was before. In summary, whereas I feel the previous version is not worth seriously studying (at least not the examples), this one is extremely solid and worth a spot on the bookshelf for CS students and "real-world" C++ programmers alike.Call it the ballplayer who atones for his previous strike out by hitting a home run in his next time at bat.

A good First Book on Algorithms

This text is an excellent choice to learn about the data structures most commonly employed in C++. The author breaks down topics in to small well focused chapters that help beginning programmers concentrate on one structure at a time.The algorithms are treated in a comprehensive manner. Besides the usual sorting and graph techniques many advanced and specialized topics such as file compression and cryptology are discussed.In sum, it ia a good second book to buy when studying C++.