# Algorithms by Robert Sedgewick

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Algorithms by Robert Sedgewick and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a practical, readable algorithms reference, useful even for programmers without a computer science degree.

## Why people recommend it

- Useful for practical algorithmic programming (1 comments): "So useful for a non-CS grad doing any kind of algorithmic programming." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48866168))
- Good for learning graph algorithms (1 comments): "Robert Sedgewick's courses were very good. Learned a lot about graphs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48122292))
- Readable enough to finish cover to cover (1 comments): "I read Sedgewick's Algorithms cover to cover for fun" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48281516))
- Forty-year effort by its authors (1 comments): "Algorithms books and material by Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne is 40 year effort too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49578238))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest and Stein](https://hackerapproved.com/p/introduction-to-algorithms.md): 10 recommend
- [The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena](https://hackerapproved.com/p/algorithm-design-manual.md): 5 recommend
- [Foundations of Multidimensional and Metric Data Structures by Hanan Samet](https://hackerapproved.com/p/foundations-of-multidimensional-and-metric-data-structures.md): 2 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0201350882?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780201350883) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Algorithms by Robert Sedgewick", https://hackerapproved.com/p/algorithms/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).