We agree with decades of common wisdom that familiarity with common algorithms and data structures is one of the most empowering aspects of a computer science education
. This is also a great place to train one’s general problem-solving abilities, which will pay off in every other area of study
.There are hundreds of books available, but our favorite is The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena
. He clearly loves this stuff and can’t wait to help you understand it
. This is a refreshing change, in our opinion, from the more commonly recommended Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest & Stein, or Sedgewick books
. These last two texts tend to be too proof-heavy for those learning the material primarily to help them solve problems
.For those who prefer video lectures, Skiena generously provides his online
. We also really like Tim Roughgarden’s course, available from Stanford’s MOOC platform Lagunita, or on Coursera
. Whether you prefer Skiena’s or Roughgarden’s lecture style will be a matter of personal preference
.For practice, our preferred approach is for students to solve problems on Leetcode
. These tend to be interesting problems with decent accompanying solutions and discussions
. They also help you test progress against questions that are commonly used in technical interviews at the more competitive software companies
. We suggest solving around 100 random leetcode problems as part of your studies.
Finally, we strongly recommend How to Solve It as an excellent and unique guide to general problem solving; it’s as applicable to computer science as it is to mathematics.
