Introduction to Data Structure and Algorithms which help to write an efficient program code:
Data structure means providing a specific structure to data. Like if you want to add two numbers 4, 3, then to add these two numbers you give a specific structure which may be int or float. Providing specific structure reserves a particular amount of memory on RAM. For example, char will reserve 1 byte, short will reserve 2 bytes, int 4 bytes, etc. So according to the data, the data structure will be defined. Data Structures help to understand the complexity of applications and the need for respective algorithms.
Basically, there are two approaches to storing data on memory i.e., Linear and Non-Linear
- Linear Data Structure: Array, Linked List, Queues, Stacks, etc.
- Non-Linear Data Structure: Trees, Graph, Tables, Sets, etc.
To perform any operations on data we need algorithms, implementation is the next step after writing algorithms. Understanding data structure and algorithms allow the programmer to write efficient code to develop effective software.
To have a good understanding of algorithms, you should have command over the fundamentals. Basic algorithms involve Searching, Sorting, and traversal.
| Searching | Sorting | Traversal (Graph) |
| Linear Search | Insertion sort | Kruskal’s algorithms |
| Binary Search | Heap Sort, Quick Sort | Dijkstra’s Algorithms |
| Depth First search | Selection Sort | Bellman Ford Algorithms |
| Breadth First Search | Merge Sort | Floyd Warshall Algorithms |
Above are a few algorithms through which we can solve real-life problems.
Let us discuss some of the algorithms
Searching Algorithm
In our daily lives, we never go a day without looking for something—car keys, books, pens, phone chargers, and so on. The same is true of a computer because it has so much data that whenever a user requests some information, the computer must search its memory to find the information and make it available to the user. Well, to search an element in a given array, there are two popular algorithms available:
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- Linear Search
- Binary Search
- Jump Search
Sorting Algorithm
Simply placing the information in ascending or descending order is sorting. When programmers realized how crucial quick searches were, the term “sorting” emerged. In everyday life, we frequently need to search for various items, such as a specific record in a database, a specific roll number in a merit list, a specific phone number in a phone book, etc. If the data had remained unsorted and unordered, everything would have been a mess, but thankfully the idea of sorting emerged, making it simpler for everyone to arrange the data in an order that facilitates searching.
Data is sorted into a sequential order to facilitate searching. There are many different techniques available for sorting, differentiated by their efficiency and space requirements. The following are a few of the popular sorting methods:
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- Bubble Sort
- Insertion Sort
- Selection Sort
- Quick Sort
- Merge Sort
- Heap Sort
A few of the advanced algorithms include:
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- Greedy Algorithm
- Activity Selection Problem
- Prim’s Minimum Spanning Tree
- Huffman Coding
- Dijkstra’s Algorithm
So, learning data structure and algorithms is one of the critical career skills for programmers! Most programmers need to realize the importance of data structure and algorithms as early as possible in their careers.
Mastering algorithms and data structure require motivation, proper guidance, hard work, resources, and a continuous learning plan.
Hope you Like the articles. We have discussed each and every algorithm in detail in other posts.
