Introduction to the Design and Analysis of Algorithms 3rd Edition

Looked in even better shape than expected!

Levitin approaches this broad topic by focusing on design methods first, rather than application. After a brief introduction to efficiency analysis, he moves into elementary methods such as brute force, divide-and-conquer, etc. before broaching more difficult ideas like dynamic programming and greedy technique. In each chapter, most classes of problems that can be solved with the technique are at least mentioned, if not explained in some detail. As a beginner to computer science but having a good amount of programming experience, I was able to pick up the ideas from this book better than from my professor. Bear in mind that this book does not discuss implementation at all, but most algorithms are designed with a C-like or procedural style; you may want to follow up with a book more focused on OO design techniques if you are implementing with C++ or Java. As another reviewer mentioned, there are no solutions to the exercises, but I did find the hints helpful on a few occasions. The solution manual was provided to us by our instructor electronically. The only other complaint is the relatively high cost; this is not a book I plan to keep around for reference due to its limited scope. Nonetheless, as a solid introduction to the field, I found it to be indispensable in my algorithms course.

I had the pleasure to be taught by the write of this book. He perfectly explains each and every algorithm in there. Definitely enjoying this class and enjoying reading this book. The problems presented after each section are interesting to solve.The shipping was fast and the item received was as described. Satisfied...

I don't like the book. The author assumes you recall all the little idiosyncrasies of precal . He trys to throw tricks on the homework problems and then does not give solutions but rather 'hints' in the back. Also I looked at the previous editions of this book and only minor changes have been made between the editions , usually one or two different homework problems for a chapter. Did you really need to put a new edition out for that ? Greedy little ferengi. Oh I hate the cover illustration for this book, makes it look like a 3rd grade workbook.

I really liked how short the chapters/sections were. It was easy to understand. Not as complicated as I thought. I finished the class that required this book, but I'll be keeping it as a reference.

This was the required textbook for my Design and Analysis of Algorithms class. The text content is decent and clearly written, but there are no answers to the heavily math-oriented (that's the nature of this topic) exercises in the back of this book -instead the author thinks that an annoying series of hints will provide the necessary help with the exercises.As anyone who has done any schoolwork involving math will know, feedback in the form of answers to exercises is critical to knowing whether or not you're on the right track with learning the material. The publisher website has the solutions -available only to instructors (presumably) behind a pay wall, which is about as useful to me as a steering wheel on a sliding-glass door. And for a $90 book, I really don't think I should have to petition an instructor to get answers for me so that I can check my work.IMHO, the author would have wasted less time by simply putting odd answers in and skipping the hint BS. Now I've gotta drop another wad of cash on a supplemental book (I'm going to try Introduction to Algorithms since it has answers available online at least) so that I'm not flying blind or stuck receiving feedback after the fact in the form of a grade that may suffer for the lack of answers to compare my work to.

Levitin’s textbook is great. It is concise and precise. The explanation is generally very clear and the organization of the topic is top notch. I fully recommend it. I have to say, however, that sometimes the explanation is too brief (few examples). In that case, I usually consult another excellent and easy-to-read textbook titled “Foundations of Algorithms” by R. Neapolitan. The latter has more examples but organisation-wise I prefer Levitn’s.

Had to buy it for a class. Things are detailed and spelled out. Excellent text book. Lots of filler to go through, but everything you need is there.