Second Edition now available!

This newly expanded and updated second edition continues to take the "mystery" out of designing algorithms, and analyzing their efficacy and efficiency. Expanding on the first edition, the book now serves as the primary textbook of choice for algorithm design courses while maintaining its status as the premier practical reference guide to algorithms for programmers, researchers, and students.

The reader-friendly Algorithm Design Manual provides straightforward access to combinatorial algorithms technology, stressing design over analysis. The first part, Techniques, provides accessible instruction on methods for designing and analyzing computer algorithms. The second part, Resources, is intended for browsing and reference, and comprises the catalog of algorithmic resources, implementations and an extensive bibliography.


Learn/Teach Algorithms the Skiena Way!

The second edition contains enough material to serve as the textbook for a standard Introduction to Algorithms course. I assume the reader has completed the equivalent of a second programming course, typically titled Data Structures or Computer Science II.

The book, and associated supporting material, stresses design over analysis. A full set of lecture slides integrated with audio and video lectures are freely available on line. Let me help teach your course! I received the 2001 IEEE Computer Science and Engineering Teaching Award and have been been teaching undergraduate algorithm classes for almost twenty years.

I have made several pedagogical improvements throughout the book. Textbook-oriented features include:


first edition

First Edition

I was gratified by the warm reception the first edition of The Algorithm Design Manual received since its publication. It ultimately went through ten printings and generated numerous errata, which remain available here.

The first edition came with a CD-ROM, with mirrors of the algorithm repository and my audio/video lecture notes. Updated and improved versions of these resources are available on line, rendering the CD-ROM unnecessary (although I fondly recall the fellow who asked me for an extra copy so their child could have one when they grew up).

This CD-ROM was also the source of the pirated online version from Indonesia. The Amazon Kindle edition is better.

Reviews of The Algorithm Design Manual include:


From the Publisher

Written by a well-known algorithms researcher who received the IEEE Computer Science and Engineering Teaching Award, this new edition of The Algorithm Design Manual is an essential learning tool for students needing a solid grounding in algorithms, as well as a special text/reference for professionals who need an authoritative and insightful guide.

Quotes

"...the book is an algorithm-implementation treasure trove, and putting all of these implementations in one place was no small feat. The list of implementations [and] extensive bibliography make the book an invaluable resource for everyone interested in the subject." --ACM Computing Reviews

"It has all the right ingredients: rich contents, friendly, personal language, subtle humor, the right references, and a plethora of pointers to resources." -- P. Takis Metaxas, Wellesley College

"This is the most approachable book on algorithms I have." -- Megan Squire, Elon University, USA