tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4068183698747623113.post5582013148965425502..comments2023-10-29T10:40:34.638-04:00Comments on A CS Professor's blog: Which textbook to use when teaching Algorithms?Claire Mathieuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10957755706440077623noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4068183698747623113.post-16567715171956929722011-11-26T09:09:26.482-05:002011-11-26T09:09:26.482-05:00David E.,
I have almost given up on teaching com...David E., <br /><br />I have almost given up on teaching computational geometry algorithms. My attempts have been largely mediocre, because<br />(1) Without any assumed background on any basic geometric primitive, I find that the details are messy, and<br />(2) I have many colleagues who like to incorporate computational geometry examples in their courses, so whatever I teach is likely to have been seen already by some fraction of the class.<br /><br />In addition, there is a course, occasionally taught, that is exclusively on computational geometry.Claire Mathieuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10957755706440077623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4068183698747623113.post-3638331435498129102011-11-24T22:01:33.783-05:002011-11-24T22:01:33.783-05:00Actually, the Dasgupta-Papadimitriou-Vazirani text...Actually, the Dasgupta-Papadimitriou-Vazirani textbook is also organized by techniques, and I agree that it is a nice way to order material.Claire Mathieuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10957755706440077623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4068183698747623113.post-80838869297869377122011-11-23T22:31:02.748-05:002011-11-23T22:31:02.748-05:00I use Kleinberg and Tardos. I like its approach t...I use Kleinberg and Tardos. I like its approach to covering topics by technique rather than application domain, and it has lots of good problems which cover many domains (including the ones mentioned by D. Eppstein above). I like that way of doing things: all these algorithmic techniques are similar, and can be applied to a diverse set of circumstances. I also appreciate its end-run around some of the technical parts of the Cook-Levin theorem. <br /><br />I dislike its price, and I quibble with how some things are presented, but overall I like its contents a lot, and prefer it to CLRS.Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17965824121030784289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4068183698747623113.post-63562161570961462572011-11-23T18:57:22.190-05:002011-11-23T18:57:22.190-05:00Jeffe: right.
That's why I want cheap (or fr...Jeffe: right. <br /><br />That's why I want cheap (or free) textbooks. <br /><br />This is a transition. I'm not sure what students will use next, but they do need textbooks to some extent still now, to avoid relying exclusively on the instructor and on random searches on the internet.Claire Mathieuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10957755706440077623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4068183698747623113.post-35735014215124397192011-11-23T17:41:28.359-05:002011-11-23T17:41:28.359-05:00What's a textbook?What's a textbook?JeffEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17633745186684887140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4068183698747623113.post-56635042544078804102011-11-23T12:35:19.539-05:002011-11-23T12:35:19.539-05:00The most important thing is that the book is avail...The most important thing is that the book is available online for free. It is outrageous that people think that students should pay 70$ (or more) for a book, considering how expensive the tuition is. In any case, a book is just another resource - I do not follow any book too closely.<br /><br />--SarielAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4068183698747623113.post-37208729766837326562011-11-23T12:23:19.933-05:002011-11-23T12:23:19.933-05:00I won't use a textbook that doesn't let me...I won't use a textbook that doesn't let me spend a few lectures on computational geometry — just as it's important to cover the basic algorithm design paradigms (divide and conquer, dynamic programming, prune and search, etc) I think it's also important to cover the basic types of algorithmic problem (algorithms on sets and sequences, algorithms on graphs, algorithms on strings, algorithms on numbers, algorithms on geometric data, etc). That rules out the one you mention, which from what I can tell has no geometry.<br /><br />In recent years I've been using the one by Goodrich and Tamassia (full disclosure: Goodrich is in my department).D. Eppsteinhttp://11011110.livejournal.com/noreply@blogger.com