In case you want to go for something aimed at competitive programming have a look at the "Competitive Programmer’s Handbook"
https://cses.fi/book/book.pdf
Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures
21–30 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures
#22The Art of computer programming by Donald Knuth.
TAOCP is too detailed and too deep as a beginner's book; you first want something lighter that you can worth through end-to-end before taking on a 7-volume book that is still not even finished (volume 4b of 7 in progress at the time of writing).
Note I am _not_ saying TAOCP isn't readable, I consider it very well written. But it's terse, hard, too deep and too detailed for a beginner, IMHO.
Re: Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures
#23My personal favourite is Sedgewick & Wayne's _Algorithms_.
https://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/
You can even find an excellent two-part MOOC on Coursera:
https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1
https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part2
Maybe it's not the "purest" class or book, but it's engaging and it lets you understand how algos work AND how to use them in practice.
Re: Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures
#24I usually don't complete online courses(I get bored watching educational videos) except for one. This course is on data structures and is conducted by University of California, San Diego. It is available both on edX[0] and Stepik[1]. The reason this online course is so engaging is because it uses the active-learning way of teaching. I was surprised how well that technique worked!
[0] https://www.edx.org/course/data-structures-an-active-learnin...
Re: Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures
#25"Algorithms Illuminated" by Roughgarden. Very accessible. Reads like a novel not a textbook. Has exercises throughout the chapter to test knowledge. I recommend it over your suggestion that you want a textbook. This book will serve you much better.
I found his courses rigorous and approachable too. I think they were equivalent to the courses he taught while at Stanford.
Re: Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures
#26> I want a book that can go into the details of each specific DS or Algorirhm. I'm not aware of any book like that. At the uni, the process is repetitive and incremental. First you learn how to implement the algo, then you learn how to count (discrete math) and, finally, you learn how to analyze its complexity. Concurrently, you might see some more details on how those data structure are used in Operating System and…
+1, Erik Demaine is a great lecturer.
Re: Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures
#27The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena Amazing book. Very readable. I highly recommend it. The book has a section call "War story" at the end of each chapter in which Skiena shares his real life experience of when the contents from that particular chapter came in handy for him. Go through it. You won't regret https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Steven-Skiena...
Not OP but I’m interested in this subject as well. I took a look at this book and others that are similar and I’ve realized my foundations on math are really lacking to even understand the given examples. Since I only had the opportunity to finish my high school diploma and this was several years ago I wonder if you could have any suggestion to brush my math knowledge up in order to properly understand the examples o…
This is a good starting point: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7wAPgl1JVvUEb0dIygHzO469...
Re: Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures
#28The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena Amazing book. Very readable. I highly recommend it. The book has a section call "War story" at the end of each chapter in which Skiena shares his real life experience of when the contents from that particular chapter came in handy for him. Go through it. You won't regret https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Steven-Skiena...
Not OP but I’m interested in this subject as well. I took a look at this book and others that are similar and I’ve realized my foundations on math are really lacking to even understand the given examples. Since I only had the opportunity to finish my high school diploma and this was several years ago I wonder if you could have any suggestion to brush my math knowledge up in order to properly understand the examples o…
>Since I only had the opportunity to finish my high school diploma and this was several years ago I wonder if you could have any suggestion to brush my math knowledge up in order to properly understand the examples of these books.
You should really consider taking a few community college math courses if you're serious. Math is extremely difficult to learn on your own. Not only because of not knowing what you don't know, but because it requires intense effort and repetition which is very hard to force yourself to do. You can work through the concepts and delude yourself into thinking you understand something when really you're just hand waving it. Taking an actual course and being faced with the gaps of your knowledge by someone else is very humbling and essential to actually learning it.
Re: Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures
#29Yes there’s lots of algorithm books! Too many to learn them all. I had an anxiety attack and bought most of the introductory algo books mentioned in CLRS chapter 1.
I liked ALGS4 by Sedgewick as my introduction to Algorithms. I still refer to the Coursera course. I actually started with CLRS and doubled back to ALGS4. I wish I did it in reverse order but it was still useful reading CLRS and refreshing my math skills.
I would say grab a few and see which ones you like. CLRS, ALGS4, Algorithm Design Manual, and Algorithm Design by Kleinberg and Tardos are a good start. You can look in the bibliography of each books for more suggestions from the experts themselves.
Re: Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not OP but I’m interested in this subject as well. I took a look at this book and others that are similar and I’ve realized my foundations on math are really lacking to even understand the given examples. Since I only had the opportunity to finish my high school diploma and this was several years ago I wonder if you could have any suggestion to brush my math knowledge up in order to properly understand the examples o…
>Since I only had the opportunity to finish my high school diploma and this was several years ago I wonder if you could have any suggestion to brush my math knowledge up in order to properly understand the examples of these books. You should really consider taking a few community college math courses if you're serious. Math is extremely difficult to learn on your own. Not only because of not knowing what you don't kn…
That of course assumes the community college is serious about its mission to educate. Most of the students just want to pass because the math course is required for this or that vocational program, and in this age it's wiser to humour the students and wave them through.