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Damn Cool Algorithms: Homomorphic Hashing

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Re: Damn Cool Algorithms: Homomorphic Hashing

#21

Post by petercooper »

breckinloggins wrote: post #15
psykotic wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> books and papers about algorithms are often dry and unmotivating. If you don't like standard textbook treatments like CLRS, you might like these: Introduction to Algorithms - A Creative Approach by Udi Manber (out of print but worth getting). Algorithm Design by Klein and Tardos. How to Think About Algorithms by Jeff Edmonds. Jeff Erickson's lecture notes on algorithms: http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/~jeffe/teaching/algori…

Thanks! I'll take a look. It's not so much that I don't like them, it's that I seem to be able to "get into" a paper or textbook after I understand what's so cool about what they're talking about.

In that case Programming Pearls will probably be a breath of fresh air. It doesn't start from the algorithm but from the problem to be solved and tends to first dip into the most naive solution before rationalizing why specific approaches are important.

Re: Damn Cool Algorithms: Homomorphic Hashing

#23

Post by lallysingh »

psykotic wrote: post #14
breckinloggins wrote: post #13

I just want to say how much I love this blog. I'm a self-taught programmer, which means that I tend to learn algorithms as I feel I need them (a big problem given that I have to know what I don't know before I can know it!). I've recently gotten more into computer science for its own sake, but books and papers about algorithms are often dry and unmotivating. The pieces on this blog are always entertaining and clearly…

> books and papers about algorithms are often dry and unmotivating. If you don't like standard textbook treatments like CLRS, you might like these: Introduction to Algorithms - A Creative Approach by Udi Manber (out of print but worth getting). Algorithm Design by Klein and Tardos. How to Think About Algorithms by Jeff Edmonds. Jeff Erickson's lecture notes on algorithms: http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/~jeffe/teaching/algori…

I'd like to shove in Skiena's Algorithm Design Manual. Very readable, great coverage.

Re: Damn Cool Algorithms: Homomorphic Hashing

#24

Post by abhijat »

petercooper wrote: post #21
breckinloggins wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! I'll take a look. It's not so much that I don't like them, it's that I seem to be able to "get into" a paper or textbook after I understand what's so cool about what they're talking about.

In that case Programming Pearls will probably be a breath of fresh air. It doesn't start from the algorithm but from the problem to be solved and tends to first dip into the most naive solution before rationalizing why specific approaches are important.

From that perspective Skiena's book is also good, as it offers war stories where you can see first hand some of the implementations of the algorithms mentioned.

Re: Damn Cool Algorithms: Homomorphic Hashing

#25

Post by ralph »

breckinloggins wrote: post #13

I just want to say how much I love this blog. I'm a self-taught programmer, which means that I tend to learn algorithms as I feel I need them (a big problem given that I have to know what I don't know before I can know it!). I've recently gotten more into computer science for its own sake, but books and papers about algorithms are often dry and unmotivating. The pieces on this blog are always entertaining and clearly…

I'm also self-taught but find not all comp. sci. books are dry, particularly those with a Bell Labs background. Something about their writing style perhaps.

You may want to peruse Aho and Ullman's excellent C edition of Foundations of Computer Science. (That's Aho as in awk.) What you need for a good grounding all in one place. You can still pick up a paper edition if you want but they've also made it available as PDFs.

http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0716782847/mqq-20 http://i.stanford.edu/~ullman/focs.html

Re: Damn Cool Algorithms: Homomorphic Hashing

#26

Post by petercooper »

abhijat wrote: post #24
petercooper wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that case Programming Pearls will probably be a breath of fresh air. It doesn't start from the algorithm but from the problem to be solved and tends to first dip into the most naive solution before rationalizing why specific approaches are important.

From that perspective Skiena's book is also good, as it offers war stories where you can see first hand some of the implementations of the algorithms mentioned.

Cool! I've now ordered it based on this comment alone.. :-)
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