Books with call numbers can be found in the library.
Jon Bentley, Programming Pearls, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.,
1986. QA 76.6 B454.
Jon Bentley, More Programming Pearls: Confessions of a Coder,
Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1990.
These books collect Bently’s Programming Pearls column that ran in
the Communications of the ACM. Every working programmer should at least read
(and understand) both volumes; after that you can decide whether or not you
should buy them (I did). Bently is particularly strong on what you do after
you’ve designed and implemented your algorithms, that is, on
performance measurement, analysis, and improvement.
David Berlinski, The Advent of the Algorithm,
Harcort, New York, 2000. QA 9.58 B47.
A popular, historical development of the idea of an algorithm, and what that
idea means today.
Gilles Brassard and Paul Bratly, Algorithmics: Theory and Practice,
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1988.
Written for upper-level undergraduates, this book provides a good, general
purpose introduction to algorithms.
Thomas Cormen, Charles Lieserson, and Ronald Rivest, Introduction
to Algorithms, second edition, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1993.
QA 76.6 I5858.
An excellent book, thorough in both the theory and practice of algorithm
design and analysis. This book serves well both the student and the working
programmer.
Ronald Garham, Donald Knuth, and Oren Patashnik, Concrete
Mathematics, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1989. QA 39.2
G733.
A rigorous and detailed presentation of the mathematics behind algorithm
analysis. Written for advanced graduate students, this is not a book for the
faint of heart (or brain).
Mark Guzdial and Barbara Ericson,
Problem Solving with Data Structures Using Java, Prentice Hall, Upper
Saddle River, N.J., 2011.
You might be familiar with Guzdial’s Python multimedia book; this
book is along the same lines except it emphasizes data structures and
algorithms rather than introductory programming, and it uses Java rather than
Python. The multimedia parts make this book less straightforward than other
Java data structures books, but perhaps more interesting.
E. Horowitz and S. Sahni, Fundamentals of Computer Algorithms, Computer
Science Press, Rockville, Maryland, 1978.
This book has the distinction of being the worst algorithms book I ever
used. The algorithms are presented an a short and unhelpful fashion (all
variable names are single letter and un-mnemonic, for example), and the
algorithm descriptions are terse and not well keyed to the algorithms
themselves.
Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 1: Fundamental
Algorithms, Second Edition, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.,
1973. QA 76.6 K64.
Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2: Seminumerical
Algorithms, Second Edition, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.,
1981. QA 76.6 K64.
Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 3: Sorting and
Searching, Second Edition, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.,
1973. QA 76.6 K64.
Even though Bill Gates has blurbs on the dust jackets of the second editions,
these are still the books to have for algorithms, their design, and their
analysis. Buy them, read them, use them in your work, and savagely ridicule
code produced by programmers that have done none of these things.
John Lewis and Joseph Chase,
Java Software Structures, 3rd ed. (the shipping container book),
Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 2010.
A good, concise data structures and algorithms book.
Udi Manber, Introduction to Algorithms, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.,
1989. QA 76.9 D35 M36.
An excellent book that uses recursion as the principle algorithm design
technique.
Gregory Rawlins, Compared to What?, Computer Science Press, New York,
New York, 1992.
A good introduction to algorithms, pitched to upper-level undergraduates. Has
a good, informal presentation on asymptotic analysis (big-oh analysis) and
its pitfalls.
Nicklaus Wirth, Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs, Addison-Wesley,
Reading, Mass., 1976. QA 76.6 W56.
Another classic, aimed at lower-level undergraduates. A book to recommend to
your kid sister or brother.
Mark Allen Weiss, Data Structures
& Problem Solving Using Java, 4th ed. (the artichoke book), Addison-Wesley,
Reading, Mass., 2010).
A good, basic data structures and algorithms book, more broad than deep. The
book’s division into parts is a bit overdone, and the the book’s size may make navigation a bit daunting, but it’s worth getting
over those humps and into the book.
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This page last modified on 19 January 2010.
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