Algorithms Books

I'm one of the authors of this book, and I wanted to point out that this book comes with a CD-ROM full of animations illustrating the concepts.

Some of the animations are in the form of diagrams, while other animations are in the form of role-plays -- where people play the part of various elements of the data structure, illustrating how they interact.

Most books on this subject are dry and boring. To avoid this, we used an informal story-telling style, interjecting intersting stories and humour.

You can also check out the book's website at http://www.sdba.info

Good book on system dynamic modeling, especially for large dimension system and state space models.

The book introduces the fundamental concepts of concurrent programming and presents synchronization methods and techniques used for solving numerous problems in programming multiprocessor (multicore) computer architectures. It is written in a clear style that makes it a pleasure read. A superb academic treatment of the topic.

omg lane hemaspaandra is brilliant he is like so totally da theory man buy this book now goodbye.

The is one of the best math books I've ever read. The reason is simple: the presentation is elegant and abstract, yet remains remarkably useful for applications. Tolimieri and An present a consice language in which to describe and use the mathematical entities underlying modern Fourier methods. In this language, many of the deep connections of this subject are reduced to trivial one line proofs. It's quite an amazing book. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as an introduction to Fourier or Time-Frequency analysis -- especially if you're an engineer, or one who avoids abstract math -- but if you're looking for a nice, elegant treatment, this is the book you need.

The master machinator is at it again, explaining computer science in ways that are offbeat, understandable and exciting. Yes, it is true that a functional computer was built by students at M. I. T. using Tinkertoys, and it played a mean game of tic-tac-toe. While fun to think about and look at, this idea contains much that is deeply significant. As those exposed to Turing Machines know, located in chapter six of this book and found in Dewdney's other works, computer computations are built using very simple base models. There is no theoretical distinction between the actions of a Tinkertoy computer and the fastest supercomputer. The ultimate capabilities of computers, if such things really exist, are not a function of the complexity of the base operations.
Which leads to the discussion of a heated debate taking place in and around the Artificial Intelligence (AI) community. Arguers against the notion of true machine intelligence use the underlying simplicity of computer computations to refute the idea that machines can ever develop self-awareness. Which is now becoming the irrefutable proof of true AI, supplanting the Turing test. Dewdney handles this philosophical discussion very well, posing his own questions. Such as, will we ever truly know what thinking really is?
Chaotic music, neural networks, programming Star Trek and golf games; computers that "passed" the Turing test and computer sculptures are just some of the additional material covered. The number of ways Dewdney finds to further explain computer science is nothing short of amazing.
Another in a growing list of superb primers in computer science by this author, one can only hope that they keep coming. Each essay is a jewel to be treasured and pondered.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

This is one of the greatest linear programming books I've ever read.

It sets out to teach linear and it only does that. It does not go into any neigbour topics and confuse the reader.
It is also picky about the proofs it provides, only the necessary ones.

Finally, I also liked the way they introduced the simplex tableus. They completely avoided the more usual tableau look. Instead they only show the equations which form the tableau. This makes simplex much more understandable.

All in all, great book for new grad students in industrial engineering, computer science, etc...

This is my all time favorite novel! It's character development, humor, richness of the family situations, education about Indian culture - all of it has prompted me to re-read it 3 or 4 times and I can't wait until I forget it a bit so I can read it again!

This was my second Seth novel. I read it after falling in love with his writing in "An Equal Music." The first thing that struck me about these novels was how different they were ... more » from one another, and how amazing it was that Seth was able to show such complete understanding of two such different cultures and time periods. The second is how beautifully Seth can write.

This 1400 page novel was a page-turner, and well worth the time and effort it took to read. I quickly fell in love with the characters and the story. It was my first exposure to Indian history and after finishing it I found myself looking for more. The only Indian author that has begun to impress me as much as Seth is Rohinton Mistry.

Seth is now my favorite author and I reccommend this novel to anyone with an appreciation for fine fiction. Unfortunately, it's size is both its best and worst feature; it scares people off, but once they give it a chance they realize there was not one page too many.

This is the longest paperback book ever published. It is a big time investment that is well worth it for the right reader. Seth's writing is entertaining and he does an outstanding job developing his characters. I missed the people in the story when I finished the book. If you are interested in India and are perhaps travelling there, I strongly recommend this book if you had to only read one book on the topic.

I imagine a lot of readers may find the political parts and speeches boring, but Seth amazingly places a well known character in the book in the midst of the political intrigue hence making the reader care more about what is happening politically. You will learn a lot about Muslim/Hindu conflicts which is an important part of life in India historically and today.

Seth's writing may be not as poetic as Rushdie, but easily surpasses him in entertainiment value. He weaves a very intricate plot while teaching the reader Indian culture and history. There are a lot of characters and subplots in this book but amazingly Seth ties everything together - it does not even appear forced. I had little trouble keeping track of everyone. Highly recommended. I plan to read more Vikram Seth.

Although the core of this story is about finding a suitable groom for Lata, the book traverses different story lines at snails pace and suddenly in the last 100 or 150 pages, things come to a sudden end. Seems like the author suddenly lost interest and wants to finish a tome. Otherwise good.

A 1500 page book. What a read! Only third of the way through it so far, but a diverse mixture of family life, Indian politics, spirituality, drama. Truely something for everyone who enjoys a good long read. Extremely well written.

Applied Cryptography is a classic book on how and why cryptography works. It is written very clearly and explains in detail how various aspects of cryptography work.

Some math-based sections are included, but overall math knowledge is assumed to be minimal. Overall, the book is very consitent in how much it expects the reader to know, few sections are much more advanced than others.

While not up-to-date with the latest algorithms and available computing specifications, it focuses as much as possible on the timeless aspects of cryptography. A recommended read to all aspiring cryptographers.

This book is extremely complete. It briefly covers the history of cryptography. It describes the political implications of cryptography and finally it shows how cryptography can be used in applications and presents the different cryptographic algorithms.

The algorithm section starts with a number theory primer.Honestly, I have found it a little bit too thin to learn all the needed background to fully understand the algorithms but on the other side, you cannot expect a simple 600 pages book to provide that background in the latest mathematical research number theories. It has at least the merit that it did stimulate my curiosity about number theory when I have read the first edition of this book.

Another point that makes this book interesting is that at the end of each chapter presenting the various algorithms in a given category, you will get Bruce Schneier opinion on which algorithm is the best. Of course, this type of information usually become outdated real fast but it is interesting to follow his thought process and test his predictions as the book grow older.

So, if you are looking for your first cryptography book, it should be this one.

Great Book! The author's style makes this very easy to follow, and he frequently clarifies on topics which are difficult to grasp. Most importantly, he writes from a practical point of view; the material is very grounded and applicable instead of being a math textbook. That being said, he cites over 1600 sources; the book is riddled with leads to sources with more complete coverage for those interested in the fine details. Though I have some programming experience, I don't intend to write any programs; but it is interesting to read the logic in code. It was my goal to learn about modern cryptography and I have achieved that and much more.

Sadly, this book is more than a few years old. That said, it is still the finest single volume introduction to data security in the modern age. For clarity of description, for illustration, and for its success at communicating essential concepts and ideas without resorting entirely to mathematics, it is without peer.

Every so often I look on Amazon and hope that I'll find Schneier has penned a third edition, updating this work with the results of the AES selection process and all the other recent developments in this suddenly fast paced field. Alas, I don't think that's going to happen. But I'm not sure that it would really make any difference -- the field now evolves so swiftly that any detailed, thorough volume would be obsolete by the time it reaches the shelves.

So instead of looking for something more recent, pick up Applied Cryptography. Read it and keep it close at hand as a reference (mine is almost falling apart from years of loving use). Nothing presents the fundamentals as well. If you need to know about a new cipher, a new hash, a new encryption mode or protocol, that's what the Internet is for.

But to really understand the underlying ideas, techniques, challenges, risks, and rewards of cryptography, nothing finer exists.

This book is now in the thirteenth reprinting of it's second edition with more than a hundred thousand copies sold. It is the definitive book on cryptography from the standpoint of a general overview of what sending secret messages is all about. It is not specifically oriented to the developer, but is more general in nature. There is not enough here for the mathematically inclined to seriously research the background of all the various systems.

As such consider this to be an introductory book on cryptography in general with a bit of history, a bit of story telling, an analysis of various cryptographic protocols and systems. There is source code provided for nine common protocols, and an invitation to order a three disk system that has source code for several more algorithms, functions, systems and additional text on various subjects. This disk set can only be sent to US and Canada addresses because of export rules on cryptographic information.

This is the definitive book on the subject. The only complaint I have is that it could stand to be done over in a third edition that would bring it more up to date.

There are already a lot of wise words written about the contents of these books. Although it may seem a trivial point in comparison to the contents, I was disappointed that the paper envelope around the volumes where not folded correctly, that is, the texts are not in the middle. A jewel like these books should not be present on a bookshelf in such a sloppy condition.

Knuth talks about the applications into informatics of the theory number.
This book , written several years ago, is today the best about those facts. I have studied recently the random numbers and I have read the algebric theory of this book . It's interesting as a solutions of algebric equation must verify statistic conditions for effective randomness.

This was a requested gift for my son. He is quite pleased with the series. He says the books are concise and informative. A definite recommendation!

I bought the three volumes of this marvelous work in 2004.Three years later (2007) I haven't quite gotten over volume 1. Yes,the expression of concepts in the MIX machine language has tended to slow reading considerably and just when progress was being made,I encountered Fascicle 1 of volume 1 on MMIX,which I found much easier going. Other volumes I have visited as the need arose. This work is dense on content and enjoyable to read (at a pretty slow pace yes) and highly relevant to every computing problem I come across.While I may ultimately not read every page of the current three volumes,I am nevertheless looking forward to the fourth edition of this great work.

Not snob appeal. Yes, it's not a good first textbook. I taught freshman programming at Caltech for a few years, and I admit I didn't use Knuth to teach, in the sense that I didn't require the students to buy it, nor did I assign problems from it. But I *did* tell all my students to buy it (the box set) if they could afford it. And every now and then I did refer the students to look up some detail in Knuth that I felt our textbook (the also very excellent Aho, Hopcroft, and Ullman) had glossed over.

The reason is that when I prepared my notes, and when I went to class, I held a copy of Knuth in my hand. Full of post-its. It's not the best book for "learners" (i.e., beginners), but it's the ONLY book for the algorithm "pro". Sure, you can teach undergrads out of Sedgewick (Knuth's student by the way). But how do you make sure you're not missing something by using Sedgewick? By reading Knuth of course.

If I knew a bright high school student with an interest in computer programming, I'd get him the box set for Christmas. I have to admit I first ran into Knuth when I was a grade school student in the early 80s. There are lots of books in the library that a kid of say twelve just isn't interested in: whatever they are about is something that is just irrelevant and unknown. Not so with Knuth: I was programming BASIC on my C64 back then and knew what programming was. Knuth was downright scary. Here he is talking about simple things, and .... who would have known there would be so much to say about sorting???

about MIX: One day Knuth will be dead. Any programming language that existed during his lifetime will be dead. TeX will be at version pi(=4 atan 1). The Art of Computer Programming will still be relevant, most of it. This would not be the case if
the examples were coded in any "standard" programming language, with all the special-purpose things they all have (no not even if they were in Ruby on Rails!) With MIX, they will at least be in a programming notation as irrelevant then as it is now.

I have an anecdote... when I was a grad student a fellow grad student of mine had come up with a new cute algorithm using two priority queues to solve some problem in CAD. We did some literature searches.. could this be a new algorithm? Nothing came up. Search the web... nothing came up. Look in the standard books on CAD.. nothing came up. Time to publish?

Then I remembered I had a copy of Knuth (he didn't, as it's not fashionable to have forty-year-old books lying around if you're a CS grad student). Turns out the data structure and algorithm the fellow had come up with were described and analyzed in the answer to one of the exercises in Knuth's vol 3. As I recall it the exercise had difficulty level "30" (on Knuth's scale of 0-50).

I draw the conclusion that "active researchers" in a field that has anything to do with algorithms, who don't use Knuth, are at great risk of attracting ridicule for not having read up.

I re-read this book every now and then. Sometimes I read it in the bathroom. Even though I have read it several times, I always learn something new. Often on every page.