Algorithms Illuminated
by Tim Roughgarden · first published 2018
90% recommend10% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible introduction to algorithm design and analysis that reads more like a narrative than a textbook, with exercises placed throughout each chapter. Suited to self-learners and those preparing for a CS degree.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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"Algorithms Illuminated" by Roughgarden. Very accessible. Reads like a novel not a textbook. Has exercises throughout the chapter to test knowledge. I recommend it over your suggestion that you want a textbook. This book…
on “Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures” ↗…Dance Remix -- presents accessible introduction to much of the CS theory landscape. Someone already praised the shorter book titled "Algorithms" by Dasgupta et al, and I second it. Tim Roughgarden's "Algorithms Illuminated" series is in this genre too. I'd also recommend the MIT lecture notes on Mathematics for CS: https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/spring18/mcs.pdf This is distinctive for its intuitive explanations…
on “Ask HN: What book to read to get a footing in CS theory?” ↗…replies to. Many people will recommend CLRS [0] but I prefer it as a reference, rather than a learning resource. I feel it's very dry and academic. Instead I'd recommend Tim Roughgarden's series of books Algorithms Illuminated for learning about analysis and algorithms. He also has courses on Coursera and Edx to cover the material. It's thorough rigorous and shows algorithms that apply to different paradigms - lke divide and…
on “Big O Notation – Explained as easily as possible” ↗As an alternative, you could pick up “Algorithms Illuminated” by Tim Roughgarden. Get the Part 1 book, read it casually a few times to get a sense of what’s in there, then go back to the beginning and start slogging through the exercises. Don’t hesitate to look…
on “Ask HN: 30s and “senior” software engineer, but I suck at programming” ↗…starts with both the quality of paper as well as the print. Like the OP himself (hi Alex), I'm also frustrated with the quality of books (many of which are print-on-demand) from Amazon. Case in point: Algorithms Illuminated by Tim Roughgarden (https://algorithmsilluminated.org/). Great set of books, but poor quality, sadly. All printed on demand. Ditto with Sebastian Raschka's (early) books from Packt Publishing (Python…
on “The enshittification of Amazon paperback books” ↗These were my favorite courses on Coursera. A lot of the course material is available here. http://theory.stanford.edu/~tim/algorithmsilluminated.html There’s also the book “Algorithms Illuminated: Part 1: The Basics” by Tim Roughgarden https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0999282905/
on “Ask HN: What's the best algorithms and data structures online course?” ↗Im not good at maths but to get my work done this books helped me a lot: https://www.amazon.de/Problem-Solving-Algorithms-Structures-... If I remember correctly it is Python 2 https://www.amazon.de/Algorithms-Illuminated-Part-1-Basics/d... https://www.amazon.de/Algorithms-Illuminated-Part-Graph-Stru... https://www.amazon.de/Algorithms-Illuminated-Part-Dynamic-Pr...
on “Ask HN: Looking for a book on algorithms and data structures” ↗Algorithms Illuminated by Tim Roughgarden really helped me understand algorithm design and analysis. Used it to prep for a masters in computer science, with no previous degree in the area. https://www.algorithmsilluminated.org/…
on “Ask HN: What are the most eye-opening textbooks you have ever read?” ↗Perhaps Algorithms Illuminated (Roughgarden).
on “Algorithms by Jeff Erickson (2019)” ↗…things like why you can drop constants and lower order terms, but on the whole really enjoying the materials. https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:UCSanDiegoX+ALGS20... https://www.amazon.com.au/Algorithms-Illuminated-Part-Graph-... Operating Systems Udacity's Intro to Operating Systems course (https://classroom.udacity.com/courses/ud923) Have also downloaded but not yet started reading "Operating Systems Concepts…
on “Ask HN: What are you learning?” ↗