CISC 621

Textbook:
Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein,
Introduction to Algorithms, second edition
McGraw-Hill & MIT Press, 2001.
Authors' book homepage

We'll refer to it as "CLR" for short.

There is a CD-ROM version of CLR available from Dr. Dobbs Journal, www.ddj.com
Some pros and cons:

Pro: It's html. Read with any browser.
Con: Some formulas are garbled.
Pro: Searchable.
Con: Search engine is not so great.
Pro: Contains some other algorithms texts as well.
Con: Cost's about $80.
Pro: Light and easy to carry.
Con: Only usable when you are at a computer with CD drive.

For most of us the CD will probably not be practical as a complete alternative to the printed textbook, but if your pockets are deep enough you may find it a useful supplement.

Other references (see CLR for title, publisher, date).
Aho, Hopcroft, and Ullman: Classic algorithms text -- crystalized the topic.
Garey and Johnson: famous summary of NP Completeness, enumeration of many NP complete problems.
Sedgewick: Well done text, interesting algorithm choice, well explained, weak on analysis.