Data Structures and Algorithms

Book Preface

This book presents the data structures and algorithms that underpin much of today’s computer programming. The basis of this book is the material contained in the first six chapters of our earlier work, The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms.

We have expanded that coverage and have added material on algorithms for external storage and memory management. As a consequence, this book should be suitable as a text for a first course on data structures and algorithms. The only prerequisite we assume is familiarity with some high-level programming language such as Pascal. We have attempted to cover data structures and algorithms in the broader context of solving problems using computers. We use abstract data types informally in the description and implementation of algorithms. Although abstract data types are only starting to appear in widely available programming languages, we feel they are a useful tool in designing programs, no matter what the language.

We also introduce the ideas of step counting and time complexity as an integral part of the problem solving process. This decision reflects our longheld belief that programmers are going to continue to tackle problems of progressively larger size as machines get faster, and that consequently the time complexity of algorithms will become of even greater importance, rather than of less importance, as new generations of hardware become available.