Book Information
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Book Reviews
Review by Shlomi Fish, NA
First of all I'd like to note that I took a course about data
structures and algorithms in the course of my EE studies in the
Technion. Despite that fact, I found the book to be quite interesting
and informative. It taught me some things which I did not learn in the
course or before.
The book has its flaws though. For instance, it should cover
hash-related algorithms. Also, some issues such as Counting Sort or
BFS, should have received more focus in my opinion.
I think this book is especially useful for people who do not have any
formal education in Algorithmics and are not familiar with algorithms
in general. It can also be good for people who are, but who need a
working perl code or reference to such.
I liked the fact that the book had some funny anecdotes, which made its
reading even more enjoyable.
So, all in all a good book to read if one would like an introduction to
algorithms or even highlights from various specialized subjects.
Review by Mikhael Goikhman, January 2003
This nice book that covers most of the main Computer Science topics is
definitely a good gift for any Perl lover. The book popularly introduces
a wide range of algorithms used in practice.
The authors describe different problems and suggest a number of algorithms
for solving every problem. The weak and strong sides of all algorithms
are examined together with their Perl implementations and benchmarks.
It is an interesting mix of theory and practice, the computation theory
is tested by practical benchmarks.
The book will give you many hours of interesting reading regardless of
your current theoretical baggage. Those who learned Computer Science in
a high school, will refresh the knowledge and review the theory again,
this time from the Perl point of view. Those who are beginners to the
topics will discover an interesting world of mathematical algorithms.
Efficient data storage, sorting, numeric analysis, compilation theory,
probability, cryptography, graphs and much more.
It is nice to confirm once again that Perl not only does not stay on the
way of theory, but naturally describes it, making algorithm implementation
clear and intuitive. This is especially noticeable for folks familiar with
algorithm implementations in other programming languages.
The book uses a large number of convenient CPAN modules. Funny quotes
make this book even more thrilling. I will definitely acquire this book
for my home library on a good occasion.
Another review with some discussion can be found on
Slashdot.