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Comment by Turing_Machine | Hacker News Reader

CLRS is great, no doubt about it, but I think Sedgewick is probably friendlier to someone studying on his or her own. Note that there are several versions of Sedgewick, which use different languages (I think there are at least C, C++, and Java versions).

I'd go with Sedgewick, then get CLRS and Knuth for use as reference material.

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If I had to learn algorithms again, and especially if I had to self-study the topic, I would personally choose a somewhat lighter textbook as an entry point, and then use CLRS for more rigor when needed. I used Skiena's excellent book for this purpose, but Sedgewick's might also be a good option. Note that Skiena doesn't cover all the topics in CLRS, but you should find most of it in there. But what you DO find is a much entertaining and motivating read.

Yes, I'm not sure that CLRS "Introduction to Algorithms" is approachable for everyone without prior exposure to formal CS concepts, notation, etc. My undergrad CS curriculum used "Algorithms in Java" by Sedgewick during our freshman year while we learned to write our first programs. We didn't use CLRS until a more in-depth algorithms class during our junior year. I read much more of CLRS in a graduate-level algorithms class.

Agreed. Are you aware of any recorded lectures / assignment sets for a course based on Sedgewick? I tend to suggest CLRS because the OCW lectures are so high-quality and most learners want at least the option of watching lectures.

Well, there's apparently one by Sedgewick himself. :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QZDe28peZk&list=PLwwk4BHih4...

I can't vouch for it, as I haven't watched them.

Nice! Those video titles are a hot mess :( I'll have to go through them at some point over the break and figure out if they're high enough quality to recommend over the OCW videos.

They are also available on Coursera.

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