I continued my Data Structures and Algorithms study track today. I continued reading through the “Linked Lists” chapter of the book, “Cracking the Coding Interview” (CTCI) by Gayle Laakmann McDowell.
I read through the portion of the chapter that introduced the “Runner Technique” which is a method of traversing a linked list faster than the standard linear search. The technique involves using two or more pointers moving at different step intervals. One pointer will traverse the linked list one node at a time i.e., the standard approach while the other pointers may only check second, third, or fourth node. The idea is that the pointers with larger steps may find the desired node we are searching for faster than the baseline pointer. In the worst case scenario the baseline pointer which traverses the list, one node at a time, until it gets to the desired node.
I did not try to implement this technique for searching through a linked list but it was interesting to see. I had not thought about doing something like this before but apparently it is a common enough technique used in search algorithms for Linked Lists.
TLDR;
Okay, so here are the highlights of what I did:
- Data Structures and Algorithms (DSA) -> Continued reading through the book “Cracking the Coding Interview” by Gayle Laakmann McDowell again. Continued reading through the chapter on “Linked Lists”. I learned about the “Runner Technique” which is used to help improve the speed at which we traverse a linked list in search of a specific value.
Goal For Round 8 of the #100DaysofCode Challenge
This is my eighth round of the “#100daysofcode” challenge. I will be continuing my work from round five, six, and seven into round eight. I was working through the book “Cracking the Coding Interview” by Gayle Laakmann McDowell. My goal was 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 turn 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 am currently putting a pause on the algorithm work to build some backend/full stack projects. I primarily want to improve my skills with the back-end from an implementation perspective. I have improved tremendously in terminal and CLI skills but I lost focus due to how abstract the algorithm concepts got. I wanted to work on things that were more tangible until I can get to a position where I could directly benefit from improving my algorithm skills and theoretical knowledge. So that’s the focus right now. Build my backend skills and prove my full stack capabilities by building some dope projects.
Again, I still 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. Best case scenario I actually become one of those unicorn developers that go on to start a billion dollar company… You never know LOL.