Good books on string algorithms if any. Do I need a separate book or theme is well explained in general algoritms?

Question

Do I need special book to learn about string algorithms, or it will be enough to pick up a chapter from general books (e.g."Introduction to Algorithms")?
I prefer more code and less theory, and language doesn`t matter. It seems to me that many books on algorithms are outdated. Is it true?

Answer 1

There can be improvements to algorithms all the time. But suitability to a particular application can be quantified.

For example various string matching algorithms described here

Answer 2

I found a few books on string algorithms online that you may want to browse through to see if they have what you need (see the Related books section on that page). I know that general books on algorithms like CLRS and Skiena have chapters on string algorithms, but they might only cover the most commonly needed algorithms. If you have a focused interest in on specific area, they might only get you started, without providing the depth you need.

Answer 3

In addition to general books on string algorithms, it's probably worth your while to look at bioinformatics algorithms that have to do with string matching, such as the Needleman-Wunsch global alignment algorithm and the Smith-Waterman local alignment algorithm, the latter of which has a much faster (though slightly less accurate) heuristic version called BLAST. I've modified BLAST to work on ASCII with good results; adapting it to work with a wchar_t is left as an exercise for the reader, but shouldn't be too hard.

On the data-structures side of things, tries, directed acyclic word graphs and suffix trees are all incredibly useful things to have in your toolbox.

Answer 4

Great book is the Algorithms on Strings, Trees and sequences.

Answer 5

Thanks everybody for suggestions, I decided to get a background in other algorithms before learning string ones.
Absence of algorithms and data structures course at university is really hit in the back for me:(

Answer 6

If you want a not particulary academic but readable approach try Algorithms in a Nutshell