Mastering Algorithms With C - Kyle Loudon [8]
Simplicity
Unfortunately, as a society we tend to regard "complex" and "intelligent" as words that go together. In actuality, intelligent solutions are often the simplest ones. Furthermore, it is the simplest solutions that are often the hardest to find. Most of the algorithms in this book are good examples of the power of simplicity. Although many of the algorithms were developed and proven correct by individuals doing extensive research, they appear in their final form as clear and concise solutions to problems distilled down to their essence.
Consistency
One of the best things we can do in software development is to establish coding conventions and stick to them. Of course, conventions must also be easy to recognize. After all, a convention is really no convention at all if someone else is not able to determine what the convention is. Conventions can exist on many levels. For example, they may be cosmetic, or they may be more related to how to approach certain types of problems conceptually. Whatever the case, the wonderful thing about a good convention is that once we see it in one place, most likely we will recognize it and understand its application when we see it again. Thus, consistency fosters readability and simplicity as well. Two examples of cosmetic conventions in this book are the way comments are written and the way operations associated with data structures are named. Two examples of conceptual conventions are the way data is managed in data structures and the way static functions are used for private functions, that is, functions that are not part of public interfaces.
How to Use This Book
This book was designed to be read either as a textbook or a reference, whichever is needed at the moment. It is organized into three parts. The first part consists of introductory material and includes chapters on pointer manipulation, recursion, and the analysis of algorithms. These subjects are useful when working in the rest of the book. The second part presents fundamental data structures, including linked lists, stacks, queues, sets, hash tables, trees, heaps, priority queues, and graphs. The third part presents common algorithms for solving problems in sorting, searching, numerical analysis, data compression, data encryption, graph theory, and computational geometry.
Each of the chapters in the second and third parts of the book has a consistent format to foster the book's ease of use as a reference and its readability in general. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction followed by a list of specific topics and a list of real applications. The presentation of each data structure or algorithm begins with a description, followed by an interface, followed by an implementation and analysis. For many data structures and algorithms, examples are presented as well. Each chapter ends with a series of questions and answers, and a list of related topics for further exploration.
The presentation of each data structure or algorithm starts broadly and works toward an implementation in real code. Thus, readers can easily work up to the level of detail desired. The descriptions cover how the data structures or algorithms work in general. The interfaces serve as quick references for how to use the data structures or algorithms in a program. The implementations and analyses provide more detail about exactly how the interfaces are implemented and how each implementation performs. The questions and answers, as well as the related topics, help those reading the book as a textbook gain more insight about each chapter. The material at the start of each chapter helps clearly identify topics within the chapters and their use in real applications.
Chapter 2. Pointer Manipulation