Introduction to Algorithms

This book does not provide enough examples to really get the ideas across. It is a thick read that provides little help to the subject matter unless the reader already has a wealth of knowledge on mathematical proofs and algorithms to begin with.

If the book had a solution manual, or at least explained many of the things that occur in the problem sections that never show up in the actual reading, then it would be a much easier to understand textbook.

This is one of the few books that I've kept from my undergrad days as a computer science major. Although I haven't been doing software development in a while, I still use it for reference once in a while. It's easy to understand and timeless reference book. I work for a large DoD company and quite a few of my co-workers have this book on their shelves as well. (We all went to different colleges.)

This is a good reference for researchers, but it is not suitable for beginners. For anyone who try to study algorithms in the beginning, he just needs the big picture of this course, but this book contains too many mathematical proofs. In other words, the beginners just want a cup of milk, but the authors of this book give them a whole cow.

Although this book is quite huge, it does not contain some important topics, like online algorithms, randomized algorithms ... etc. In fact, this book should try to 'lose its weight' in order to get more useful knowledge.

The book contains a lot of interesting exercises, but does not indicate any hints or solutions. In fact, some of those exercises are too hard for students, and the authors should try to announce all sloutions in the website.

+ Defacto standard
+ Accompanying WebCourse

- Too deep if used as an intro book; lacks solutions if used for a reference book
- It's HUGE!; hard to carry around

= Tries to appease too wide an audience. Definately attractive to professors who already know the information and feel this is THE book yet probably too deep for an intro algorithms class. Wish there was a searchable pdf version that came with the book on a CD as well as odd numbered solutions.

What it is:
A very thick text book about a) the mathematics behind algorithms, and b) a treasure chest of random performance tips.

Who it's for:
This book is for those who want or need to gain a decent grasp of the math for analyzing algorithms, and already have a decent understanding of discrete mathematics and probability.

What's good about it:
I really like this book. It's very high quality, well written, concise, and clear, and it's sprinkled with clever little tips to improve the efficiency of common routines.

Tips:
You can watch video recordings of the MIT lectures based on the book. Check out "6.046J Introduction to Algorithms" by searching for "ocw 6.046J" in your favorite search engine. The mathematical prerequisite course is also available in text form on MIT's OpenCourseWare; it can be found by searching for "ocw 6.042J spring 2005".

Warnings:
* Don't bother with this book unless you have a high aptitude for math
* Don't bother with this book unless you're prepared to work at it
* It's not designed as a reference book; instead it's a study book.

Many reviewers have called this book a "reference", but I have to disagree. A good reference book makes information quickly accessible, but this book would require you to read way too much to be called a reference. A practical reference book for algorithms is "The Algorithm Design Manual" by Steven S. Skiena, assuming you don't require proofs.

The Major Shortcoming!
Given that the book's design is most appropriate for learning things you don't already know, it has one major shortcoming: there are no answers to any of the exercises or problems. That makes the book semi-useless for self-study as well as for instructors who believe in the pedagogic value of students being able to check their answers. The instructor's manual is only available to instructors on the condition that they don't make the answers available.