Book Review : Introduction to Algorithms by S. Dasgupta, C.H. Papadimitriou, and U.V. Vazirani

Look around you. Computers and networks are everywhere, enabling an intricate web of complex human activities: education, commerce, entertainment, research, manufacturing, health management, human communication, even war. Of the two main technological underpinnings of this amazing proliferation, one is obvious: The breathtaking pace with which advances in microelectronics and chip design have been bringing us faster and faster hardware. This book tells the story of the other intellectual enterprise which is crucially fueling the computer revolution: Efcient algorithms. It is a fascinating story. Come close and listen good …

Introduction to Algorithms is a good book for rookies starting out their understand of the computer programs and the brains that run these programs more effeciently. The authors S. Dasgupta, C.H. Papadimitriou, and U.V. Vazirani do a pretty good job and use a unique approach for proofs which is intuitive and accessible and has interesting stories about the development of important algorithms as well as their current uses in the global information environment. The various chapters provide a variety of perspectives on the implementation of algorithms , but are also thorough and rigorous; including their coverage of linear programming and quantum computing.

Best of all, the entire contents of the book are completely FREE

Preface Chapter 0: Prologue Chapter 1: Algorithms with numbers Chapter 2: Divide-and-conquer algorithms Chapter 3: Decompositions of graphs Chapter 4: Paths in graphs Chapter 5: Greedy algorithms Chapter 6: Dynamic programming Chapter 7: Linear programming Chapter 8: NP-complete problems Chapter 9: Coping with NP-completeness Chapter 10: Quantum algorithms Entire book (draft)