Algorithms

The annoying thing as you note is that in the long run Sedgewick >> Leetcode but in the short run it's probably reversed as whiteboard interviews often present algorithm puzzles that are variants of "have you seen this trick before?" and closer to Leetcode questions. I wonder though if "programming contest" (usually more like "algorithm puzzle contest") books like Skiena's might be useful, though I can't help but think that doing an algorithms course first shouldn't be useless.

Sedgewick is a masterpiece but also overkill for interview prep. Interviews are mostly trivia and for that leet codes volume is your friend. Buy sedgewick for your long term growth but it will stand in the way of any near term interview prep, at least it did for me.

My personal favourite is Sedgewick & Wayne's _Algorithms_. https://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/ You can even find an excellent two-part MOOC on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1 https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part2 Maybe it's not the "purest" class or book, but it's engaging and it lets you understand how algos work AND how to use them in practice.

In addition to those already mentioned here, I enjoyed the book 'Algorithms' by Robert Sedgewick & Kevin Wayne. The algorithms are explained, and demonstrated (in java). But with the knowledge of how the algorithm works you should be able to use them in another language. (And even though henrik_w already mentioned it, Code Complete2 is a really good book to read!)