Data Structures, Algorithms, and Software Principles in C

This is a terrific textbook for readers in the software development field utilizing C. It covers the foundation of data structures, C programming language, and software algorithms quite extensively. Presently, the textbook is 10 years old and it is not obsolete yet. I think it should be relevant for the next decade or so.

This book proved to be a valuable tool to propel me to the next level of understanding of computer science. I gave it four stars because the author skips out on a lot of explanative detail, I felt should of been included, but does an excellent overview/summary of ideas and concepts. I only give it four stars because of it's lack of information. This book is not for the beginner. If you're serious, and want to learn something, then read this one.

I used this textbook for my Data Structures class in college, and found it to be great. I'm definately keeping it! Standish makes extensive use of diagrams to aid in explaining topics that can be confusing at first. Many topics are touched on briefly with references pointing the curious reader to more in-depth treatments. This book does something that is very important for programmers: it teaches good programming practice! I know many programmers who can program but do not grasp the important design principles that Standish stresses (like abstracting the implementation of a data type from its interface, and documenting well for decreased maintenance cost). Standish teaches the advantages and disadvantages of the top-down and bottom-up programming methods. I think this book is excellent for data structures, and a good *introduction* to analysis of algorithms. After just taking an analysis of algorithms class, this book's superficiality in that area becomes apparent. If you are looking for in-depth coverage of algorithms this is not the book for you. Darrell Bishop