How do I learn algorithms and data structures?

Posted by sushil bharwani on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by sushil bharwani
Published on 2010-11-12T16:55:54Z Indexed on 2011/01/01 22:58 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 387

Filed under:

algorithms

this is in continuation to my previous question where i asked is it necessary to learn algorithm and datastructures. I feel yes it is. Now when i work in a enviornment where i wont ever get the chance to learn it by experimenting or practically or in any assignment. What is the right approach like the right books, right kind of problems, right kind of resources that i can go through to give six months or a year or two to learn it. And also mould my mind in a way that it can relate problems to datastructures and algos.

Related posts about algorithms

Finding a problem in some task [closed]

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
Recently I competed in nation wide programming contest finals. Not unexpectedly all problems were algorithmic. I lost (40 points out of 600. Winner got ~300). I know why I lost very well - I don't know how to find actual problem in those obfuscated tasks which are life-blood of every competition.… >>> More
Genetic algorithms

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm trying to implement a genetic algorithm that will calculate the minimum of the Rastrigin functon and I'm having some issues. I need to represent the chromosome as a binary string and as the Rastrigin's function takes a list of numbers as a parameter, how can decode the chromosome to a list of… >>> More
understanding evaluation function

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I am developing a chess program. And have made use of an alpha beta algorithm and a static evaluation function. I have successfully implemented both but I want to improve the evaluation function by automatically tuning the weights assigned to its features. At this point am totally confused about the… >>> More
How to know whether to create a general system or to hack a solution

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I'm new to coding , learning it since last year actually. One of my worst habits is the following: Often I'm trying to create a solution that is too big , too complex and doesn't achieve what needs to be achieved, when a hacky kludge can make the fit. One last example was the following (see paste… >>> More
How to implement a genetic algorithm with distance, time, and cost

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I want to make a solution to find the optimum route of school visit. For example, I want to visit 5 schools (A, B, C, D, E) in my city. Then I must find out what school I should visit first, then the second, then the third etc. with distance, time, and cost criteria. The problem is, I am confused… >>> More

Developer IT