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By Daniel Zingaro
Algorithmic Thinking is a hands-on, problem-based introduction to building algorithms and data structures.
Download Chapter 1: HASH TABLES
Algorithmic Thinking will teach you how to solve challenging programming problems and design your own algorithms. Daniel Zingaro, a master teacher, draws his examples from world-class programming competitions like USACO and IOI. You’ll learn how to classify problems, choose data structures, and identify appropriate algorithms. You’ll also learn how your choice of data structure, whether a hash table, heap, or tree, can affect runtime and speed up your algorithms; and how to adopt powerful strategies like recursion, dynamic programming, and binary search to solve challenging problems.
Line-by-line breakdowns of the code will teach you how to use algorithms and data structures like:
NOTE: Each problem in this book is available on a programming-judge website. You’ll find the site’s URL and problem ID in the description. What’s better than a free correctness check?
December 2020, 408 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781718500808
Introduction
Chapter 1: Hash Tables
Chapter 2: Trees and Recursion
Chapter 3: Memoization and Dynamic Programming
Chapter 4: Graphs and Breadth-First Search
Chapter 5: Shortest Paths in Weighted Graphs
Chapter 6: Binary Search
Chapter 7: Heaps and Segment Trees
Chapter 8: Union-Find
Afterword
Appendix A: Algorithm Runtime
Appendix B: Because I Can’t Resist
Appendix C: Problem Credits
View the latest errata.
“A good choice for anyone who needs to understand and implement algorithms.” —RedGreenCode
“With Zingaro as a tutor by your side, you’ll learn, through practice on challenging competition problems, a repeatable process for figuring out and deftly applying the most appropriate algorithmic tools for the job. You’ll learn it all from a book that exudes clarity, humor, and just the right dose of Canadian pride. Happy problem-solving!”
—Dr. Tim Roughgarden, Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University
“A clear and engaging text . . . By presenting problems first and their algorithm/data structure solutions later, it shows us exactly why those solutions are useful and how they fit into the big picture. . . . Far too many textbooks present solutions fully-formed with no mention of the dead ends and too-complicated solutions you’d hit along the way. But Algorithmic Thinking takes you from the initial idea to the final breakthrough, setbacks and all. Problem solving is a raw, real journey, and this book captures its spirit perfectly. I highly recommend it.”
—Ava Pun, medal winner in the International Olympiad in Informatics Programming Competition
“A good introduction to some important competitive programming techniques.”
—Antti LAAKSONEN, Olympiads in Informatics
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