#45: Weekly Recap — Algorithms and Data Structures

Happy Friday! Here is the first weekly recap of The Coder Cafe on the theme of algorithms and data structures.

Don't feel bad if you haven't had time to read all the posts this week. What's important is to keep moving forward, no matter the pace. Focus on the journey, not just the destination.

Issues

• #41: Arrays vs. Linked Lists

• #42: Binary Heaps

• #43: Graphs

• #44: Topological Sort

Visual of the Week

Credits

Weekly Podcast

Knowledge Check

1. What factors contribute to the performance penalty when iterating over a linked list?

2. What’s the primary use case for linked lists?

3. How does the time complexity for adding an element differ between linked lists and dynamic arrays?

4. What’s the difference between a binary heap and a priority queue?

5. What are the two properties of a binary heap?

6. What’s the time complexity for building a binary heap?

7. Why do graph characteristics matter?

8. What are the two main graph representations in memory and when should we favor one over the other?

9. What’s the purpose of the topological sort algorithm?

10. On what type of graphs does it apply to?

11. Can you think of a real-world application where topological sort would be useful (apart from the three examples we discussed yesterday)?

Explore Further

• Performance of array vs. linked-list on modern computers

• Understanding binary heaps: definitions, comparisons, implementations, and applications

• Topological sort algorithm

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Next week, the theme will be… cognitive biases! 🎉