Grokking Algorithms: An Illustrated Guide for Programmers and Other Curious People Paperback – 1 Jun. 2016

Despite having been a software developer for more years than is socially acceptable, I lack a background in computer science - granted, I have a doctorate in computational physics and can write code for money but I've never had any formal training in the 'fundamentals' of computer science.Let's get something straight: algorithms can be hard, and when you get down to the nitty gritty the source material is drier than a particularly dry thing at midday in the Sahara so anything that attempts to make the concepts more palatable to the self-taught is to be applauded irrespective of whether or not it succeeds. The thought of an illustrated book will, no doubt, make the purists recoil in horror - that's their loss. Sometimes a couple of drawings are far more illuminating than pages full of discrete mathematics, and this is what we have here.This won't be to everyone's tastes - some programming knowledge is assumed, but the fundamentals are discussed in a fluff-free manner with short snippets of code (in Python) to reinforce the points made. The usual suspects are here: starting with binary search, moving up through various sorting and tree/graph algorithms with a brief detour into NP-complete problems such as the travelling salesman and knapsack problem. There's an excellent overview of big-O notation and one of the better explanations of recursion that I've come across - I almost feel that I understand it now.If your background is in 'hard' computer science then there's probably very little here for you - having said that, if you're self-taught or have moved into software development from another discipline then you'll probably learn something. Certainly, I found even the basic stuff to be very illuminating and have started applying some of the concepts to my own code with tangible results.TL;DR - if you've already got a grounding in computer science then look elsewhere- there are plenty of other books on algorithms and algorithmic design that will go into excruciating amounts of detail. If you're not one of these people and want to get up to speed then this may be right up your street - the content is engaging enough that it'll encourage you to read more deeply into the subject.

I’ve been using Python for data analysis for a couple of years but don’t have any format computer science training. This is a great introduction to algorithms and also the concepts and benefits of code optimisation.It’s really clearly written, and the pictures help to explain the concepts, that could be quite dry, in easy to understand format. Exercises and examples are all well laid out and easy to follow.Highly recommended.

After years of University Computer Science, its amazing how little you know about programming.This book is specifically geared towards the visual learner. We want to "see" where we're going, and this book gives you more in the first chapter than an entire year of University education.If you're a visual learner, this book is unique and a must have.There is nothing else on the market that has this approach. You can "see" the point, the logic and how it works, and that's it. You've learnt a "hard concept" and are grinning from ear to ear, as it's taken you 10 minutes.

Grokking Algorithms is a great introduction to algorithms for anybody new to programming. What makes the book stand out is its use of pictures to help explain how the algorithms work.Several concepts that aren’t algorithms per se are also explained, for example arrays, linked lists, hash maps and call stacks. The book covers a broad range of algorithms, from basic ones, like binary search and sorting, to more advanced like graph algorithms and dynamic programming.The implementations are given in Python. However, the emphasis is not on the code, but on explaining how the algorithms work. The true test to see if you have understood the content is to write your own implementations of the algorithms. Reading this book is a good first step to that understanding.

I bought this book two days ago and it was delivered to Poland today, 3 days earlier than scheduled. I got my book approximately 3 hours ago and I’m already on chapter 3 of the book. It breaks things down to the tiniest bit. It is so easy to understand and isn’t boring. It’s a great way to get into DSA. It gives me hope that I can meet my goal soon.

Made my way through it all in just a couple of sittings as it was so easy to follow.You might want to look at The Algorithm Design Manual, Cracking the Coding Interview or Introduction to Algorithms if you want the extra depth but this book is a great run through for what you need for a practical application of the concepts in day-to-day programming (and probably most of what you get interviewed on too).

A great primer on algorithms and data structures. You will gain an understanding of important concepts from the very beginning of the book which you can then apply in your work as a software engineer. The author has clear writing style and balances high- and low-level detail well so that you don't get lost in the information but still feel like you've delved to a reasonable depth in the subject. I highly recommend this book as an introduction to algorithms and data structures!

Got this book to support in study. It is excellent at introducing algorithms in an easy to understand way, and the publishers provide an online version as well.One small point, the early chapters use python2 to demonstrate some of the topics, most current python developers will be using 3+ so if you want to run in a python3 environment you will need to change the syntax in parts.