What do the small black stars next to CLRS exercises mean?

The answer is in the middle of page xiv of the Preface. read more

You blink and a group of black spots dances before your eyes. A few seconds later they're gone and you go about your busy day. While that momentary dizzy spell may seem harmless, new research suggests it could actually indicate major health problems and put some people at risk for early death. read more

CLRS is a very thorough overview of the basics of algorithms and data structures, but beyond that it’s all breadth and no depth. Any of the chapters in the last section could easily be expanded into a book of its own, and there are several important topics that don’t get any coverage at all. read more