[HN Gopher] Algorithms by Jeff Erickson (2019)
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Algorithms by Jeff Erickson (2019)
Author : kkwteh
Score : 226 points
Date : 2022-07-15 10:43 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (jeffe.cs.illinois.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (jeffe.cs.illinois.edu)
| jason2323 wrote:
| As an undergrad studying an algorithms, I didn't not find this
| book useful. Somehow it managed to confuse me more.
| adchari wrote:
| To be fair, this book definitely doesn't start from first
| principles since UIUC requires several classes before 374 (the
| class which uses this book). UIUC splits the data structures
| material into another hands-on class, and introduces discrete
| math and preliminary ideas about algorithm analysis and proving
| correctness in another course.
|
| On top of that, 374 only uses about half this textbook in
| conjunction with other notes about topics not covered in this
| book (mostly models of computation). The rest of the material
| in this textbook is used in 473, the elective advanced
| algorithms course.
|
| That's not to say that your experience isn't valid, but within
| the context it is primarily used in, it's a very good
| additional resource to lecture content, which is more than can
| be said of most textbooks
| Apocryphon wrote:
| So not that dissimilar from CLRS, then. Despite its
| introductory title it is very dense and voluminous. Almost
| more like a graduate level reference.
|
| There really needs to be a text that captures the middle
| ground between CLRS and _Grokking Algorithms_ and I guess
| this isn't it.
| eredengrin wrote:
| I'm not familiar with Grokking Algorithms, but fwiw the
| most important prereq at UIUC for 374 is 173, which also
| happens to have a free textbook[1] written by another UIUC
| professor, Margaret Fleck. I consider it to be a high
| quality introduction to discrete math and have good
| memories of her as a professor as well.
|
| [1] https://mfleck.cs.illinois.edu/building-blocks/updates-
| fa201...
| Apocryphon wrote:
| Grokking Algorithms is an introductory illustrated book.
|
| https://www.manning.com/books/grokking-algorithms
| bo1024 wrote:
| Perhaps _Algorithms Illuminated_ (Roughgarden).
| rg111 wrote:
| What ultimately helped you?
| pm90 wrote:
| I think I had a similar experience. I suspect its because its a
| very unorthodox approach; the style seems more targeted towards
| someone with a bunch of time reading through it slowly rather
| than gulping it down quickly like for most undergraduate
| courses.
|
| For getting me through the tests, I did end up using more
| traditional books. However, now, several years past academia, I
| find this style very engaging and delightful to read.
| rg111 wrote:
| Which book ended up helping you when you were in academia?
|
| Which one helped you learn?
| pm90 wrote:
| For the general case, the CLRS book is recommended, but I
| personally found Algorithm Design by Jon Kleinberg and Eva
| Tardos to be the best introduction in undergrad:
| https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Jon-
| Kleinberg/dp/032...
| dmlittle wrote:
| Despite its name CLRS goes WAY beyond an introduction
| civilized wrote:
| I worked through this one on Dan Luu's recommendation and
| loved it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0073523402
| freyr wrote:
| > I didn't not find this book useful. Somehow it managed to
| confuse me more.
|
| And now you're carrying on the tradition.
| O__________O wrote:
| Most notable prior HN posts:
|
| --- 1463 points|4 years ago|238 comments
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18805624
|
| --- 595 points|1 year ago|152 comments
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26074289
|
| ________________________
|
| * All other prior posts:
|
| https://hn.algolia.com/?q=http%3A%2F%2Fjeffe.cs.illinois.edu...
| imadr wrote:
| The logo is "Khwarizmi" written in square kufic script, pretty
| cool
| quantumduck wrote:
| Jeff also owns this domain that redirects to this book:
|
| algorithms.wtf
| nequo wrote:
| Oh wow, that's very cool. Did he do this as a SEO hack or just
| as an easy-to-remember shortcut for his book?
|
| His illinois.edu page is the second hit for me for "algorithms
| wtf" in DuckDuckGo and the first hit in Google. There is a non-
| zero probability that I would find his book by searching for
| that.
|
| Edit: Sorry if this came across as disrespectful. I don't think
| that a SEO hack in this case is bad. If you put your care and
| attention into writing and revising a 472-page textbook, you
| want people to find it. There's nothing wrong with that.
| quantumduck wrote:
| I don't think Jeff cares about SEO. He was out probably
| looking for a simple domain and I'm sure algorithms.com,
| algorithms.org etc. were already taken.
|
| If I had to pick between say algorithms.me and
| algorithms.wtf, I'd definitely go with the second one,
| especially because students like me will remember it for
| life.
| jacamera wrote:
| As a self-taught developer this book has been an incredibly
| valuable resource. I'm immensely grateful that resources like
| this exist freely on the internet.
| pm90 wrote:
| If you haven't reached out to Jeff, I would highly recommend
| sending him an email explaining how its impacted you. He is
| just an amazing person overall and _loves_ to teach.
| jacamera wrote:
| I have not and that's a great idea. Thanks!
| cinntaile wrote:
| I think he's on HN, so there is a chance he'll see that post!
| anewpersonality wrote:
| A must read before any coding interview.
| herpderperator wrote:
| Link should be updated to the HTTPS version:
| https://jeffe.cs.illinois.edu/teaching/algorithms/
| hdjsbdusn wrote:
| Why?
| Supermancho wrote:
| Because of how the most popular browser on the planet treats
| http and there's no downside to using https. Obvious.
| dhhsbeb wrote:
| But there is a downside, it uses more power. I don't see
| the upside in this case, hence the question.
|
| It sounds like think so because it's it's what you've
| become accustomed to without questioning.
| herpderperator wrote:
| Because otherwise everyone can read and change what
| you're browsing without your knowledge. AES is hardware-
| accelerated on most machines.
| dang wrote:
| Ok, we've done that.
| johnohara wrote:
| Family, pancakes and algorithms. In that order (no pun intended).
| azhenley wrote:
| Jeff was also very active on Academia.StackExchange, where he was
| invaluable in helping many early career faculty and PhD students,
| including myself. Nearly 97,000 reputation from more than 500
| answers.
|
| His profile: https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65/jeffe
| therein wrote:
| Also known to be the best Theory of Computation (373&374, they
| made changes) teacher in UIUC back in the day, potentially to
| this day.
| primitivesuave wrote:
| Jeff Erickson was my favorite professor at UIUC, and his ability
| to explain complex ideas in meaningful ways inspired my own
| journey as a computer science educator.
| pizza234 wrote:
| He also has a very interesting history:
|
| > I have the lowest undergraduate GPA (2.4/4.0) of any
| professor I've ever met
|
| with reference to https://3dpancakes.typepad.com/ernie/2005/03/
| re_phd_with_low....
| dataflow wrote:
| I love this quote:
|
| > I discovered (or remembered) that I was more interested in
| doing things RIGHT than doing them NOW, which is bad news in
| the software industry; this wasn't the place for me.
| rg111 wrote:
| Here are some books that I suggest to learn DSA properly:
|
| 1. _A Common-Sense Guide to Data Structure and Algorithms_ from
| PragProg Bookshelf. Written in a very approachable manner with
| very good code. The best for self-learners.
|
| 2. _Algorithms_ by Dasgupta, Papadimitriou, Vazirani (DPV). Very
| short and concise book- extremely well-written with a
| personality. Requires basic CS math.
|
| 3. _Algorithm Design Manual_ by Skeina. Extremely approachable as
| well. Has 'battle stories' of algorithm usage. Good for self-
| learners. Links to problems in Leetcode is given.
|
| 4. CLRS is of course nice for a mathematically rigorous study.
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