Beginning Algorithms

wrox 2005<br>A good understanding of algorithms, and the knowledge of when to apply them, is<br>crucial to producing software that not only works correctly, but also performs<br>efficiently. This is the only book to impart all this essential information-from the<br>basics of algorithms, data structures, and performance characteristics to the<br>specific algorithms used in development and programming tasks.<br><br>Packed with detailed explanations and instructive examples, the book begins by<br>offering you some fundamental data structures and then goes on to explain various<br>sorting algorithms. You’ll then learn efficient practices for storing and searching<br>by way of hashing, trees, sets, and maps. The authors also share tips on optimization<br>techniques and ways to avoid common performance pitfalls. In the end, you’ll be<br>prepared to build the algorithms and data structures most commonly encountered in<br>day-to-day software development.<br><br>What you will learn from this book<br><br>* The basics of algorithms, such as iteration and recursion<br>* Elementary data structures such as lists, stacks, and queues<br>* Basic and advanced sorting algorithms including insertion sort, quicksort, and<br>shell sort<br>* Advanced data structures such as binary trees, ternary trees, and heaps<br>* Algorithms for string searching, string matching, hashing, and computational<br>geometry<br>* How to use test-driven development techniques to ensure your code works as intended<br>* How to dramatically improve the performance of your code with hands-on techniques<br>for profiling and optimization