Algorithms unlocked (Q2844486)

This is an excellent book introducing to algorithms in an easy-to-read way. The author is a co-author of the well-known textbook [\textit{T. H. Cormen} et al., Introduction to algorithms. 3rd ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (2009; Zbl 1187.68679)] written in full technical precision and deep explanations. The book under review is of a different type; it provides a general explanation, with limited mathematics, of how algorithms enable computers to solve problems. The book should help readers to achieve a broad understanding of the key algorithms underlying much of computer science. Readers will learn what computer algorithms are, how to describe them, and how to evaluate them. They will discover simple ways to search for information in a computer; methods for rearranging information in a computer into a prescribed order; how to use graphs for modelling basic problems in a computer; how to solve problems that ask questions about strings of characters such as DNA structures, the fundamentals of data compression, the basic principles behind cryptography; and even about some unanswered questions in the field of algorithms.NEWLINENEWLINE The book is divided into ten chapters and each of them is devoted to a particular problem (What are algorithms; How to evaluate; Sorting and searching; A lower bound for sorting; Directed acyclic graphs; Shortest paths; Strings; Cryptography; Data compression; Hard problems). Each chapter ends with a section ``Further reading'' which will guide the reader to books and articles that go deeper into the topics. The book is a great review of key algorithms that every computer scientist must understand, so it is very useful for computer science students and practitioners.