The first two pages of the preface focus not necessarily on the power of algorithms, but on the issues surrounding the problems they solve. It is not as simple as “prove that 4 is composite.” Instead, the problems posed to developers often include weird fringe cases and require prioritizing different parts of the user experience. As a result, often times there is not simply one end all be all algorithm to handle the problem. Instead, depending on the specifics of the situation, other algorithms can be called for.

On a 1-10 scale, I give these pages a 4/10 as they did not really accomplish much.