Essential Algorithms: A Practical Approach to Computer Algorithms
$60.00, 624 pages, 2013
John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13: 978-1118612101
By Rod Stephens

Master the most useful algorithms and build your problem-solving skills

Algorithms are the recipes that make efficient programming possible. Studying them lets you build a useful toolkit of methods for solving specific problems. This book introduces you to many classic algorithms, shows you where they work, and explains how to analyze them to understand their behavior. The study of algorithms also teaches general problem-solving techniques that make you a better programmer. You might find that this book not only helps you on the job, it may help you get the job.

Learn useful algorithms including:

• Numerical algorithms: randomization, factoring, prime numbers, and numeric integration
• Methods for manipulating common data structures: arrays, linked lists, and networks
• More advanced data structures: heaps, trees, balanced trees, and B-trees

Learn these and other problem-solving techniques:

• Brute force or exhaustive search
• Divide and conquer
• Greedy algorithms and hill climbing
• Least cost algorithms
• Heuristics
• Constricting bounds

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Book sales these days are heavily driven by reviews and this book hasn't gotten enough. In an attempt to generate more reviews, I'm giving away 5 copies of the book. Here are some details:

• By entering the drawing, you promise to post a review. I don't want you to promise a good review, just an honest review. I think this is a good book and it can stand for itself.
• This book describes algorithms in an abstract pseudocode not in C# or any other particular language so you should be able to understand it no matter what programming language you use.
• Each chapter includes exercises that you can use to test your understanding of the material covered. The answers are included in Appendix B.
• The exercises also provide ideas for experimenting with the algorithms to learn more about how they work and what you can do with them.
• The book's web site lets you download example implementations of many of the algorithms

To enter the drawing, send an email containing your name and snail mail address with the subject "C# book drawing" to [email protected] by August 23, 2013.

If you want to stretch your brain and learn new techniques that you can apply to complex problems, sign up for the drawing and you might win a free book!

(If by some chance you already own a copy of this book, or a copy of any of my books, please post a review! Reviews are what sells books and without sales I can't keep writing. Please don't make me get a real job!)