Review of Real-World Algorithms: A Beginner's Guide by Panos Louridas

Abstract

According to the author, “the book was written to serve as a first encounter with algorithms.” The book tries to provide an understanding of algorithms that can be commonly encountered by people in different disciplines. The flow of the discussion covers salient points of the algorithms without necessitating a technical deep dive. This makes the book more accessible to people from disciplines other than just Computer Science. The chapter titles are imaginative and serve to hook the interest of the reader. In addition, the chapter titles segue nicely into the discussions per chapter. For example, the first chapter is titled “Stock Spans.” The chapter starts with a discussion of how stock spans are solvable in several ways, depending on the constraints identified. This is a great jumping off point to discussions of how we can determine which algorithms would serve us better. Also the problem is basic enough that a discussion of basic structures fits well.