Puzzles for Programmers and Pros

I have always enjoyed Prof. Shasha`s mathematical puzzle column for Dr. Dobb's Journal. So when I stumbled across this book, I was pleasantly surprised. Overall, I really liked the puzzles in this book. The descriptions of the puzzles are generally not too long (usually a page or two) and the warm-up exercises and its solutions really give you a feel of what to expect ahead. You can easily spent 5-10 minutes reading a puzzle, doing the warm-up exercise, see its solutions and tried to solve the real puzzle the rest of the day, maybe even weeks. But beware that some of the problems are pretty hard. They just seem "impossible" to me. I agree with some of the readers here that sometimes the language can be a bit vague (e.g. the puzzle "Whipping Ice", I really wasn't sure what the problem is asking until I see at least the solutions to warm-up). Since the book is written for programmers alike, I guess they are written more as puzzles as opposed to mathematics problems that some of the readers may have hoped. I would imagine how difficult it would be if I were to take the author's "Heuristic Problem Solving" class. Can't imagine the amount of work there is but how fun it can be!

Terrific set of puzzles for IT. We use them as weekly contests, and most have just the right balance between "can't figure out in your head" and "impossible and massively time consuming" for an office environment. Highly recommended!

Before reading this book, I actually did not know how to use the dynamic programming algorithm in practice. This books taught me in one page from "Sweet Packs" puzzle. The solution is so simple and elegance that I can still remember it almost a year later. I was surprised to see how an ordinary problem can be solved with an old algorithm from a different perspective. This book is unique. Unlike other puzzle book, it's dedicated for programmers. And I think doing puzzle from time to time may help improve brain function. Some of the problems can be hard. If you want some simple puzzles for interview, you may also try this book "How would you move mount Fuji? - Microsoft's cult of puzzle".

The book presents a number of puzzles, of different difficult level, with proposed solutions. In general, the puzzles are not very hard to solve if you follow the hint/guide by the author, and can be done in reasonable time. It is a good practice if you are going through a number of interviews for technical positions. It can also serve as a spare time reading for those doing research in algorithm engineering. The language of the book is a bit descriptive, not as formal and precise as I expected. This is a personal preference and I know some folks love this type of language. Given the price and content, I would give it 4 stars.

The book contains a set of really good puzzles. Solving the puzzles will keep you entertained for days. However, the descriptions of many puzzles are too long. I am not sure if you would encouter most of the puzzles described in this book in job interviews. However the content and the complexity of the puzzles are definitely of high quality.