The Algorithm Design Manual

Most professional programmers that I’ve encountered are not well prepared to tacklealgorithmdesignproblems.Thisisapity,becausethetechniquesofalgorithm design form one of the core practical technologies of computer science. Designing correct, e?cient, and implementable algorithms for real-world problems requires access to two distinct bodies of knowledge: • Techniques – Good algorithm designers understand several fundamental - gorithm design techniques, including data structures, dynamic programming, depth-?rst search, backtracking, and heuristics. Perhaps the single most - portantdesigntechniqueismodeling,theartofabstractingamessyreal-world application into a clean problem suitable for algorithmic attack. • Resources – Good algorithm designers stand on the shoulders of giants. Ratherthanlaboringfromscratchtoproduceanewalgorithmforeverytask, they can ?gure out what is known about a particular problem. Rather than re-implementing popular algorithms from scratch, they seek existing imp- mentations to serve as a starting point. They are familiar with many classic algorithmic problems, which provide su?cient source material to model most any application. This book is intended as a manual on algorithm design, providing access to combinatorial algorithm technology for both students and computer professionals.