People

The easiest way to find the answer to any question is to ask someone who knows. Below, I describe some useful resources of contact information for experts in algorithms. E-mail and the WWW make it very easy to track down experts. In fact, maybe too easy. Please use this information responsibly, for many of them are my friends! Limit your queries to short, specific questions; and contact them only after you have checked the standard textbooks and references described in this section.

• comp.theory - The USENET newsgroup comp.theory is the proper forum for on-line discussions on algorithms and related topics. Other appropriate newsgroups include comp.graphics.algorithms and sci.math.      
• TCS Virtual Address Book - This WWW-page address book is particularly useful to track down the whereabouts of researchers in the design and analysis of algorithms. It is maintained by Ian Parbery and is available from the ACM SIGACT WWW page http://sigact.acm.org/sigact/. An excellent way to learn of recent progress on a particular problem is to ask a researcher who has previously published on the problem, or at least check out their WWW page.   
• Algorithm Courses - A comprehensive page of pointers to algorithm courses on the WWW is maintained at http://www.cs.pitt.edu/ kirk/algorithmcourses/index.html. Lecture notes, problems, and solutions are typically available, with some of the material being amazingly thorough. Software associated with course projects is available from some of the sites.