Getting Started with Learning Data Structures and Algorithms

by kirupa (https://www.kirupa.com/me/index.htm) | filed under Data Structures and Algorithms (https://www.kirupa.com/data_structures_algorithms/index.htm)

As was all the rage with the cool kids back in the early 2000s, I majored in Computer Science. I probably shouldn't have, but I liked computers. I liked science. How difficult could this be? Fast forward to a few years in my undergrad program, and my feelings about Computer and Science was at a low.

[Image: ] (https://www.kirupa.com/data_structures_algorithms/images/pages_text.png)

If you show me the same information more visually with a bit of personality and clarity, it's a different ball game. Things make sense:

[Image: ] (https://www.kirupa.com/data_structures_algorithms/images/visual_books_content.png)

Unfortunately, the former was the entirety of my computer science education. This was all happening at MIT (https://www.mit.edu), a place well known for its Computer Science program and quality of teaching. My classmates also did just fine. The teaching material just didn't resonate with me. This was very much a me problem.

As many me problems go, it was up to me to figure out a graceful workaround. To better help me understand all of the arcane algorithms topics that I kept getting confused by, I started to take all of the material from my lectures and books and reexplain and rewrite them for myself in a more approachable way:

1. If something sounded boring, I made it sound more interesting.
2. If a topic didn't explain the importance of why it needed to be learned, I dug into the motivation and convinced myself of why it matters.
3. If an explanation was really complicated, I expanded it into more simple terms and tied it back to concepts I could relate to.
4. If there was a giant wall of text, I drew diagrams to help me represent the same material more visually

These activities helped me to better appreciate how algorithms truly worked, and they also had the important side-effect of being the source material for both the Algorithms: Absolute Beginner's Guide (https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0138222290/kirupacom) book, videos (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL478wQWRhpfasDbF6XRIp18tPDaqozTTN), tiktoks (https://www.tiktok.com/@thekirupa), and tutorials (https://www.kirupa.com/data_structures_algorithms/index.htm) that you will be seeing:

[Image: ] (https://www.kirupa.com/data_structures_algorithms/images/book_preview.png)

I hope the content, in whatever form you consume it, hits the mark if you were looking for a reimagined way of explaining very dry and boring algorithms-related topics. In many ways, this is the book I wish I had all those decades ago when I was learning about algorithms and data structures.