I am a fresh software engineering graduate and I am looking for something to improve my problem solving skills, while I did learn about basic algorithms and data structures, I feel like I could learn further more, I know about big O, fast sorting algorithms, dynamic programming, backtracking, binary trees (Although I do not think I know everything about them), I also know about low level memory concepts.

I am sure I forgot to mention some of the stuff I also know about, but I hope the ones I mentioned give a good insights on where I should move onto next.

    • Valmond@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 day ago

      Ha ha came here to suggest exactly this book!

      It has it all, from bubble sort up to parallel algos and isn’t it just a killer name, introduction to algorithms…

  • FizzyOrange@programming.dev
    2·
    18 hours ago

    Honestly I would take a look through a good standard library that provides a lot of algorithms (e.g. C++ or Rust). That has the basics, especially for data structures.

    Also have a go at some hacker rank tests. Especially if you want to learn dynamic programming (abysmal name), they absolutely love that.

  • pooberbee (any)@lemmy.ml
    9·
    1 day ago

    If you want to improve your problem solving skills, I’d suggest solving actual problems. Data structures and algorithms can be very satisfying in their own right, but the real value is in taking a real-world problem and translating it into code.

    It also depends what you want to do with your knowledge. There are domains that are deeply technical and require a lot of the things you’ve mentioned, but they also tend to be pretty hard to break into. A lot of software is not so deep. Any software project will have need for good domain modeling, architecture, and maintainability. Again, these are things best learned through practice.

    • jeffhykin@lemm.ee
      3·
      13 hours ago

      I agree, and here’s a few different avenues of examples:

      1. If trying to get past interviews, Leet code and hacker rank can be great. They’re not so great for real world problems, but not bad.

      2. Advent of code is a good middle ground between theory and practice in my opinion.

      3. To really learn real world problem solving, I’d recommend implement a specification, without looking at existing implementations. For example, make a basic regex engine (formal Regular Expressions not PCRE expressions), or try to implement the C Preprocessor, or the JS event loop.

  • Troy@lemmy.ca
    6·
    1 day ago

    https://numerical.recipes/

    The current version is in C++

    But if you check the link above, the older C and Fortran editions are free to read. This is the gold standard for numerical algorithms and scientific computing, without getting into things like GPUs and such.

    • notTheCat@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      3·
      22 hours ago

      One of the biggest things I have built was a experimental 3D physics engine, it did require some memory allocation optimizations, I built a lot of stuff I cannot really list them all in here, An honorable mention would be an FPS game from scratch without a game engine.

      • ericjmorey@programming.dev
        1·
        26 minutes ago

        That’s more than most SWE graduates have done, which is great! But it makes it difficult to judge what you might benefit from based on what you’ve shared.

        To answer the title question, the suggestions provided by others here are all good resources for studying algorithms, but no one mentioned Algorithms Illuminated which is of a similar quality. Choose one of these suggested resources that vibes with your learning style.

        But don’t discount the suggestions to work on new projects that are outside of your current experience and requires more than your current knowledge base to complete. Trying things you haven’t tried before really is the only way to do things you couldn’t do previously.

        Good luck!