Solving puzzles demands a mindset that starts with a vulnerable openness followed by a rigorous drive to find a solution. Whether you're preparing for a programming job interview or just like a challenge, this book takes you on a tour of problem-solving techniques so you can dramatically improve your skills. You'll learn how to conquer simple elimination puzzles like Sudoku and how to apply heuristic techniques to far more complex problems.

Dr. Shasha provides you with the tools to solve several classes of puzzles by handand computer. These include scheduling, strategic, geometric, and probabilistic puzzles. You'll also find a mystery involving codes, bank accounts, and geography that you can solve for the chance to win a prize. The approaches and techniques in this book will help you solve the kind of application puzzles the real world may throw at you.

What you will learn from this book

• How to expand your puzzle-solving abilities and tackle new challenges

• Proven steps that will help you quickly progress from basic puzzles to a more advanced level

• How to prepare for various types of puzzles presented during a programming interview

• Techniques for determining the best solution to a puzzle

• Methods for solving puzzles using decryption and combinatorics

Who this book is for
This book is for programmers who need to brush up on their puzzle-solving skills as they prepare for the programming job interview. It is also for anyone who love puzzles and challenges.

Wrox guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think, providing a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.

• Aimed at both working programmers who are applying for a job where puzzles are an integral part of the interview, as well as techies who just love a good puzzle, this book offers a cache of exciting puzzles
• Features a new series of puzzles, never before published, called elimination puzzles that have a pedagogical aim of helping the reader solve an entire class of Sudoku-like puzzles
• Provides the tools to solve the puzzles by hand and computer
• The first part of each chapter presents a puzzle; the second part shows readers how to solve several classes of puzzles algorithmically; the third part asks the reader to solve a mystery involving codes, puzzles, and geography
• Comes with a unique bonus: if readers actually solve the mystery, they have a chance to win a prize, which will be promoted on wrox.com