No matter if you are a software developer who wants to get into AI, frontend, backend, or databases. Wherever you go, you'll have to deal with Data Structures and Algorithms, and learning them will not only give you an incredible advantage over your competition but also help you write better code and have a wider understanding of how the biggest and most amazing pieces of code work behind the scenes.
That's why today I want to present to you the book that changed my life in this regard:
Groking Algorithms is probably the best book ever created to introduce anyone to the world of algorithms or even expand your current understanding if you already know something about it.
The Book Structure
This is not the common CS book that will teach with over-complicated examples or will take for granted that you have been studying this topic for the last two months in college. No, no, this book will take you from 0, giving you interesting and appealing examples, like: "How Facebook verifies your account, How to track the main character in a video game, how Google Maps works"
It is worth mentioning that all the examples are fun, they are accompanied by Python code and beautiful and entertaining illustrations.
What Can You Expect to Learn?
Obviously, you'll learn about algorithms, data structures, and performance. But here you have a longer and more detailed list of the main topics:
- Binary Search
- Big O Notation
- How Memory Works
- Arrays and Linked Lists
- Recursion
- Quick Sort
- Hash Tables
- Breadth-First Search (really helpful for AI)
- Dijkstra's Algorithm (will blow your mind and you'll want to study math)
- Greedy Algorithms
- Dynamic Programming
- K-Nearest Neighbors
- Trees
- Inverted Indexes
The book goes deep into these topics and will explain how they were developed, how they work, their applications, and their history. You'll be amazed at how simple the author makes these topics seem. If you don't get it with this book... I don't know how you'll do it
My Suggestions
Once you start reading this book, I strongly encourage you to start practicing with code, not only in Python but in any language that you want, creating your own implementations of these algorithms.
Also, LeetCode is an excellent place to keep practicing some of the concepts that are introduced in the book. Anyway, it is most likely that after this book you'll have to keep reading about it.
My Experience
I've been working in software development for something around 7 years now and I've dealt with many problems. I would have never imagined how much this book would help me. From implementing an algorithm to make searches over a custom tree to working with a RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) system, having to implement many algorithms to achieve the desired result. This book has changed my life, and there is no day where I regret having bought it
What Book to Read After
I would suggest continuing with Introduction to Algorithms. It is a more extensive book but will help you continue learning.
The End
This is a short post that has the sole intention of helping those who lack the technical knowledge that one normally acquires in college. I have many friends who are self-taught developers, and they want to acquire this information. For that reason, I wrote this post because this is something that I've shared with them, and it really helps.
If you found this post helpful, consider donating to me and helping me buy a book. It's something that I really appreciate, and you have no idea how helpful it is.
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As always, I hope you like it, and I'm reading your comments in the comment section.
Top comments (2)
More!!! We need more of this... Thanks for sharing and thanks for not gatekeeping 🌱
Thank you💖 I really appreciate your comment