Will I love Introduction to Algorithms?

Yes, it’s a textbook, albeit a particularly well-written one. You may already have it on your shelf, if you’ve taken a programming class or two.

I’m way too old to have used CLRS as a textbook, though! For me, it’s an effectively bottomless collection of neat little ideas—an easy-to-describe problem, then a series of increasingly clever ways to solve that problem. How often do I end up using one of those algorithms? Not very often! But every time I read the description of an algorithm, I get a nugget of pure joy from the “aha” moment when I first understand… show more.

One of my long-time software passions is the study of algorithms, so I have a lot of algorithms books on my shelves.

I have books about general algorithms, graphics, image processing, distributed systems, artificial intelligence, robotics, chaos theory, NP-hard problems (because I like a challenge), and fractals (because they’re pretty).

I honestly can’t pick one and say, “This is the one you should read,” because they all have something to offer, but I will say that Introduction to Algorithms is a good place to start.

It explains Big-O notation (which is essential to really understanding algorithms) and covers… show more.

With over one million copies sold this may be the most popular computer science book in the world. This bedrock of computer science education is both a definitive textbook and reference book and is a must-have for anyone in the field of computer science. This latest edition is significantly updated and includes color throughout the text.