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Learning Algorithms

paedubucher.ch

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Re: Learning Algorithms

#21

Post by mdp2021 »

goodbyesf wrote: post #10
BossingAround wrote: post #4

I've recently been trying to learn algorithms as a self-taught software engineer. I've made it quite far without much deeper knowledge of the area (I do have some basic overview of course), but it has always been on my mind that I should to study up. I've tried CLRS, but oh boy it's a) a slog to go through, b) very sparse with explanations. You might say that the whole book is one explanation after another, and you'd…

> I'm just trying to be a better engineer Your time would be better spent on accumulating domain knowledge in whatever industry you are working in - finance, healthcare, government, etc. Especially if you want career advancement or make yourself look more attractive to prospective employers. Unless you are directly involved in writing algorithms or academic research, you really won't be proving time and space complex…

Let us rephrase it as

"be balanced". (Do not disregard the other sides, work on all dimensions.)

Re: Learning Algorithms

#22

Post by mochaki »

stathibus wrote: post #13
zelphirkalt wrote: post #12

Can anyone recommend a book, that deals with purely functional algorithms? I already have "Purely Functional Data Structures" by Okasaki, which I began working through, but still have a long way to go. However, it is about data structures, not about algorithms, strictly speaking. Perhaps there is a book for algorithms that does it the functional way? Probably a lot of it comes down to naive versions of algorithms usi…

There is a good reason this book doesn't exist.

and what might those reasons be?

Re: Learning Algorithms

#24

Post by rg111 »

BossingAround wrote: post #4

I've recently been trying to learn algorithms as a self-taught software engineer. I've made it quite far without much deeper knowledge of the area (I do have some basic overview of course), but it has always been on my mind that I should to study up. I've tried CLRS, but oh boy it's a) a slog to go through, b) very sparse with explanations. You might say that the whole book is one explanation after another, and you'd…

Best beginners' Discrete Math MOOC I have ever seen: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEAYkSg4uSQ2Wfc_l4QEZUSRd...

Re: Learning Algorithms

#25

Post by goodbyesf »

mekoka wrote: post #16
goodbyesf wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm just trying to be a better engineer Your time would be better spent on accumulating domain knowledge in whatever industry you are working in - finance, healthcare, government, etc. Especially if you want career advancement or make yourself look more attractive to prospective employers. Unless you are directly involved in writing algorithms or academic research, you really won't be proving time and space complex…

What a strange advice. So much to disagree with, but I'll just stick with algorithms specifically. Only once I went through ds & algo, after a relatively long career, that I understood what Linus Torvalds meant by "bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships."

> Linus Torvalds meant by "bad programmers worry about the code. Good programmers worry about data structures and their relationships."

That's why I wrote: 'Unless you are directly involved in writing algorithms or academic research, you really won't be proving time and space complexity of algorithms in your job. A general understanding is sufficient for 99% of the jobs out there.' If you are developing a kernel, then you should have a solid understanding of algorithms, data structures, etc. But 99% of programmers aren't developing kernels. 99% of programmers are working in industry - finance, healthcare, government, etc.

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