Competitive Programmer's Handbook
Competitive Programmer's Handbook by Antti Laaksonenby Antti Laaksonen
Shares rank 13 of 115 programming books by recommenders
Praised as a practical, hands-on intro to algorithms and a handy reference for interview prep. Caveat: some readers found its extra material unused and not helpful for interviews.
Praised as a practical, hands-on intro to algorithms and a handy reference for interview prep. Caveat: some readers found its extra material unused and not helpful for interviews.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful algorithms reference and intro
“this book seems to be a very practical, hands-on intro into many useful algorithms”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Competitive Programmer's Handbook (2018) [pdf]” “It’s an equally great algorithms reference and way to prep for coding interviews.”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “Competitive Programmer's Handbook (2018) [pdf]” Helps with interview prep
“It’s an equally great algorithms reference and way to prep for coding interviews.”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “Competitive Programmer's Handbook (2018) [pdf]” “Helped me got my internship (and probably my job now lol)”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Competitive Programmer's Handbook (2018) [pdf]” Fun to learn from
“The additional stuff in TCPH was fun to read/learn, but I never used it to solve any of those problems.”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Competitive Programmer's Handbook (2018) [pdf]” “Very nice ! Thanks for sharing this. Fun to play around with algorithms during college days !”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Competitive Programmer's Handbook (2018) [pdf]”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Extra material went unused
“The additional stuff in TCPH was fun to read/learn, but I never used it to solve any of those problems.”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Competitive Programmer's Handbook (2018) [pdf]” Did not help with job goal
“It really didn't help with that goal. ... It's well written.”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “Competitive Programmer's Handbook (2018) [pdf]”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert Nystrom | 60 | 4 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Clean Codeby Robert C. Martin | 31 | 87 | 26% | 9 | — | — |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Matthias Felleisen and Robert Bruce Findler and Matthew Flatt and Shriram Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Competitive Programmer's Handbookby Antti LaaksonenThis page | 9 | 1 | 90% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
All 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The additional stuff in TCPH was fun to read/learn, but I never used it to solve any of those problems.”
“Very nice ! Thanks for sharing this. Fun to play around with algorithms during college days !”
“it has an aim other than getting a job where you probably won't use the stuff anyway”
“It compiles a few gotchas that apply in general programming, regardless the language.”
“Helped me got my internship (and probably my job now lol)”
“this book seems to be a very practical, hands-on intro into many useful algorithms”
“That's all out of the window now.”
“There is a more polished version of this book”
“It really didn't help with that goal. ... It's well written.”
“It’s an equally great algorithms reference and way to prep for coding interviews.”
“it sacrifices some readability for cleverness and conciseness”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.