This book is the most amazing book on algorithms I’ve read. The concepts are so well explained that moving to “An introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Rivest” will be very easy.
I come from a non-computer science background. When I started my coursework in Computer Science I was intimidated with Cormen - (although that IS THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE and a complete text!) until I found Harel.
Harel covers ALL the key aspects of algorithms and quite a bit of Data Structs too. He explains all the concepts in a non-mathematical, yet intellectually stimulating manner.One can literally read through the book in single day and gain insight into the most difficult topics like, unsolvable problems, hard problems, NP and NP complete problems.
On a side note - I pity those reviewers who returned the masterpiece and took objection to Bible quotes. Please grow up and look at what the book has to offer instead of taking objection to such insignificant embellishments.
This book presents the concepts, methods, and results that are fundamental to the science of computing. The book begins with the basic ideas of algorithms such as the structure and the methods of data manipulation, and then moves on to demonstrate how to design an accurate and efficient algorithm. Inherent limitations to algorithmic design are also discussed throughout the second part of the text. The third edition features an introduction to the object-oriented paradigm along with new approaches to computation. Anyone interested in being introduced to the theory of computer science.
From the Back Cover
From a review of the first edition:
‘This book is a veritable tour de force. Harel writes with uncommon verve, clarity and imagination.’
‘Through the use of tantalizing questions and aptly chosen and often amusing examples, the author transmits to the reader the excitement and intellectual satisfaction of computer science research. Without the use of formal mathematics and without any sacrifice of intellectual integrity, he conveys to the general reader the profound principles on which computer science is founded and which hitherto were only accessible in abstruse and esoteric textbooks and papers.’
‘This is scientific writing at its best.’
Dr Stan Scott, Queen’s University Belfast. The Times Higher Education Supplement.
This book tells the story of the concepts, ideas, methods and results fundamental to computer science, in a form independent of the details of specific computers, languages and formalisms. It concerns the true ’spirit’ of computers; with the ‘recipes’ that make them tick - their algorithms.
New to this edition
* Chapters on software engineering and on reactive systems.
* Thoroughly revised chapter on programming languages.
* New material on quantum and molecular computing.
* Whole text thoroughly updated to include new material on many topics, including abstract data types, the object-oriented paradigm, primality testing, and system verification and validation.
David Harel is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He is renowned for outstanding research in many areas of the field, and has recently been awarded the Israel Prize in Computer Science.
Yishai Feldman is on the faculty of the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science at the Interdisciplinary Centre, Herzliya. He specializes in the use of atificial-intelligence techniques in software engineering and its real-world applications.
