The Art of Computer Programming 4A - Combinatorial Algorithms, Part 1
Note that I have not read this book as thoroughly as I normally would prior to writing this review as the nature of the book is such that it would take far longer to read this book properly than most of the others that I review.
For those needing to resolve combinatorial problems this book (along with the yet to be published volumes 4B etc that will contain the rest of the chapter) will be the ultimate resouce. Ideal for use as a textbook for advanced computer classes and also as a reference work for advanced programmers.
My Rating: 
Pros
- Covers the subject extremely thoroughly given the nature of the topic.
- Also covers some of the obvious but unworkable alternatives so as to explain clearly why they will not work.
Cons
- Not the easiest of books to read, it tends to get very technical in places.
- Very specialised topic means that you need to be working with the sorts of problems that the book deals with in order to gain any benefit from the book. So possibly not quite as useful as the earlier volumes.
Description
- First Edition: 2011
- 883 page hardcover
- Published by Addison Wesley
- ISBN: 978-0-201-03804-0
- The classic work extended and refined
- Author Donald E Knuth
Review
Those familiar with the prior volumes in this series this book will know exactly what to expect from this book since they all effectively form part of one huge wor that is as yet still incomplete. This particular volume contains Chapter seven and four appendices. In fact the next volume to be released will also contain a further part of Chapter seven.
This particular book/chapter deals with combinatorial search algorithms - more specifically with boolean/binary/bitwise algorithms and with basic combinatorial patterns. The book is extremely detailed covering many useful areas relating to these specific topics and also has hundreds of exercises (of varying levels of difficulty) that will help you to gain an even greater understanding of the subject. The most advanced exercises are actually research problems awaiting solutions.
The book is packed full of formulae using notations that may or may not be familiar to the reader. The material within the book itself explains those notaitions prior to using them but for those using the book as a reference who may have missed the explanation they are all explained again in one of the Appendices. This makes it possible to use the book as a reference rather than having to read it through sequentially which is rather useful since actually working your way through the book studying everything it covers properly would require a significant amount of time.
More Information from the Author about this series.
Disclosure: The review copy was provided by the publisher.
