Introduction to Algorithms

This book is not for the casual reader. If the contents seems confusing at times it is because there are hard problems being analyzed. Any book on algorithms that is not confusing at times is probably not discussing any interesting algorithms. While quite academic, this book is also relevant to any engineer who needs to design/optimize a non-trivial algorithm. It's also one of those books that one can open up to any random page and start reading. Sometimes when I get coders-block, this is just the thing to break me out of it. This book is heavy, expensive and well worth its weight and price.

This is an excellent book. Well written, easy to understand, precise, good problems, excellent coverage of the basics. This book can provide an excellent foundation in computer science.

To customers: please report any inappropriate reviews, such as those given by readers who haven't read the book.

I consider this to be the undisputed algorithm "bible" for introductory computer scientists. This was a textbook of mine in graduate school. Great exercises, good explanations. Highly recommended for anyone involved with algorithmic implementation.

Yes, this is the HOLY BOOK OF ALGORITHMS. It is both detailed and concise. But I do not think that it is for introductory level algorithm courses. Rather it is appropriate as a reference.

(1) i have taken courses that use this book
(2) i have taught students from this book

in both cases the book was not useful. the professor provided online notes as a supplement to the book because, frankly, the book is opaque at times and not at the level of an introductory course.

in case (2), when i actually interacted with students trying to learn the material, i found that students just had a lot of trouble understanding many sections of the text.

i own this book because i do a lot of work on algorithms and it's good to have on the bookshelf, ready to grab. but i don't think people should teach from it, nor should the casual student of algorithms own it. instead, there are much better teaching books. the new Kleinberg and Tardos book is a great example of a book that's good for teaching.