Computer Algorithms: Introduction to Design and Analysis

Note that the Preface starts with "This book is intended for an upper-division or graduate course..." and should be seen as such. In my School, we have more emphasis than average on algorithm analysis, so we are able to use this book at 3rd-year level (final year of our degree), but without a strong background, the book would fit a graduate course better. Some of the criticisms relate to use of pseudocode and inadequate diagrams. The latter is maybe a criticism of an introductory book, but is not applicable to an advanced book. Eye candy fools the reader into thinking they understand more than they do. Pseudocode as used in the book should not be a serious problem for more advanced courses. Detail is not left out to the extent that is sometimes the case in pseudocode. In any case, I worry about students who expect to be spoon fed. If you have to derive your own algorithm, the details aren't all provided for you -- you need to work them all out. I do however find it strange that in the 3rd edition, the authors changed to a Java-like pseudocode but didn't adjust array indexing to 0.My only reason for not giving the book a 5 is that I have found a number of errors in the string matching algorithms. But even this is not unusual in algorithms texts; I would hope all readers would test (if not prove correct) any textbook algorithm before using it. Another thing I do not quite agree with is the relatively informal treatment of solving recurrences (using recursion trees) -- I would prefer that more formal approaches like the characteristic polynomial method were used.On the whole, this book has a good balance between breadth and depth. Other than the bugs introduced in the string matching algorithms and the inadequate conversion to a Java-like notation, it is a significant improvement on the 2nd edition.I recommend it strongly for courses where students already have a good algorithms background, and are ready for a more advanced course.The last book I used, Fundamentals of Algorithmics by Brassard and Bratley, was much harder for my students. It developed a lot of mathematical material that was not used much in subsequent examples, and they found explanations hard to follow.

This is my favorite undergraduate textbook on Algorithms. This very polished work is well organized and very well written. The code pieces are clean and elegant, and the exercises at the ends of the chapters are outstanding.The author is to be commended for producing such a fine work. Note that a new edition is supposed to come out sometime in the fall (of 1999).