“In The New Hacker’s Dictionary under “superprogrammer,” we read
that “productivity can vary from one programmer to another by three
orders of magnitude.” I would argue that at least one of these
factors of ten comes from the ability to quickly recognize what
algorithms should be used to solve different parts of a problem and
to find or write implementations of those algorithms that will
result in an efficient program, given the available time and the
characteristics of the problem. This ability is developed through
experience and by understanding the highlights of the large body of
algorithms and analysis of algorithms that has been developed to
solve problems that occur over and over again in computer
programs.”
“Mastering Algorithms with Perl is designed to provide the
necessary background. It’s structured like a traditional algorithms
textbook: after describing some basic and advanced data structures
(linked lists, trees, heaps, etc.), it has chapters about
searching, sorting, sets, matrices, graphs, strings, and some
related topics. After the introduction and discussion of data
structures, the chapters are relatively independent and could be
read in any order. The authors provide plenty of cross-references
as well as pointers to books that describe individual subjects in
more detail.”
“The intended audience is programmers who don’t have a
background in computer science, who know at least some Perl.
However, experienced programmers who don’t know Perl should have no
trouble picking up the basics of the language with this book and a
copy of Programming Perl. Also, computer scientists can often
use a review of algorithms, and the CPAN pointers are very useful.
So, I would go so far as to say that this book would enrich any
programmer’s bookshelf. A stringent test of the merit of a new
technical book is to ask if it adds some value, given the best
existing books in its area? I think that Mastering Algorithms with
Perl definitely does. It is a well-written introduction to
algorithms that is more accessible, practical, and entertaining
than standard algorithm books. It leverages off of the strengths of
a powerful language and a large base of reusable code.”