Went for my third attempt at logically breaking down the difficult recursive algorithm. I drew out the recursion tree for a simple example but I am still a bit fuzzy. I think one more go at it will make everything clear for me. This brings me back to one of my favorite anime characters, “Rock Lee” from the Naruto Series. I often think about how much I struggle and that I am far from being a genius, or smart. However, in not being the best I have learned the value of working hard. I figure if I work extremely hard I can be a great developer as well. Sounds corny, but it’s extremely important to be corny when it comes to your goals. We all have to “Believe it!” if we are ever going to achieve it. lol.

TLDR;

Okay, so here are the highlights of what I did:

• Still reading through the book “Cracking the Coding Interview” by Gayle Laakmann McDowell. Since I am stuck on practice problem eleven I am trying to review the concept of Recursion and determining the time complexity for recursive algorithms. My third attempt went well but I still have some questions after drawing out the recursion tree. One of the biggest concerns that I had with the solution presented in the book was the lack of consideration for the constant time processes. I mean, in the grand scheme of the Big O notation answer they are irrelevant but for clarity it would have been great if they were included.
• Started going through a YouTube video on Big O Notation from the G.O.A.T. freeCodeCamp. It’s a 2 hour video I might glean some new information from the video so I figure why not. I will be going through a few more recursion problems before moving back to the problem that I struggled with. I currently feel confident that I can figure out how to get the correct answer this time but I want to perform my due diligence before my second attempt.

Conclusion

That’s all for today. This is my sixth round of the “#100daysofcode” challenge. I will be continuing my work from round five into round six. I am currently working through the book “Cracking the Coding Interview” by Gayle Laakmann McDowell. My goal is to become more familiar with algorithms and data structures. This goal was derived from my goal to better understand operating systems and key programs that I use in the terminal regularly e.g. Git. This goal was in term derived from my desire to better understand the fundamental tools used for coding outside of popular GUIs. This in turn was derived from my desire to be a better back-end developer.

I have no idea if my path is correct but I am walking down this road anyways. Worst case scenario I learn a whole bunch of stuff that will help me out on my own personal projects.