Create Articles : Data structures

[ds-249]

Here is a rough outline of simple data structure articles. They are language agnostic, but it's better to provide some example implementation of functionalities in Java or Python 3.

It should be made abundantly clear to a reader what is the point in structuring our data to control how we access it.

• Arrays => Article: Data-Structure-ARRAYS.md #1052
• Lists
  • Linked List => Added article on linked list #1056
  • Stack (assigned to @varunu28 )
  • Queue
  • Doubly Linked List
• Trees
  • Binary trees
  • Heaps
  • Binary Search Trees
  • Height Balanced BSTs
• Trie => Create Article : Data-Structures-Trie.md #1064
• B-trees
• Hash Tables and Hashing Functions => Article: Hash Tables and Hash Functions #1047
• Multi-way trees
• Space-partitioning trees
• Application-specific trees
• Graphs
  • Breadth First Search
  • Depth First Search
  • Djkstra's Shortest Path Algorithm
  • Kruskal algorithm for MST
  • Prim's algorithm for MST

It is to be made clear to the reader with some applications of these data structures and how fundamental they are to the software and tool we use. It is also to be emphasized upon that while it's good to know their implementation, it's probably better to use libraries when using them in production.

The language libraries in Java and Python 3 need to be mentioned, which exposes these APIs to use these data structures.
 

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[alayek]

Notwithstanding the fact that this would be a massive undertaking in itself, we have to use some popular object oriented language for the code examples.

Our Wiki articles, at present, are mostly on JavaScript. I don't know of many material out there that would discuss even basic Stacks or Queues in JS.

We are, however, planning to add languages like Python or Java in our curriculum, and it is expected there would be some basic data structure problems in that. Which means we would also need corresponding articles in our Wiki on some basic data structures.

FreecodeCamp is about getting a candidate job ready, or improve on their current technical skills to move to a more technical role within their current day job. There are very few jobs that require complex Data Structure knowledge on a day-to-day basis. So it was never a priority for us.

However, interviews are a step to get a job, and the tech interviews tend to ask some tricky data structure problems - doubly linked queues, linked lists, trie etc.

It would massively help if you would like to take up this initiative and get the ball rolling. You can start writing in any standard language of your choice - Java or Python. Since we don't have any current plans for C or C++ in-browser challenges, we would rather not have articles in those.

[ds-249]

I code in python2, if that's okay, I can start right up. :)

[alayek]

@ds-249 that's cool! We are currently planning to support only Python 3 for now, so you raise the PRs in Python 2, and we would recommend changes and tweaks for Python 3.

You can discuss this more with us in our chatroom

[abhisekp]

This might be helpful for this initiative 👉 RosettaCode:Programming Tasks which shows a single algorithm in all major and minor languages. 😄

Might interest someone for learning Khan Academy — Algorithms

[alayek]

Udacity has recently launched a course titled "Technical Interviews" which covers some of these topics in Python.

[varunu28]

@alayek I code in Python 3 and would like to get started on this. We can also add up few algorithms which get frequently asked in interviews.

[alayek]

@varunu28 for algorithms, I am under the impression you are talking about the sorting ones, median finding, string matching etc. (I am not including the ones that would be associated with a DS). Is that the case?

We have some Algorithm articles, but those are more for our internal in-browser challenges, and less for what an Algo course in college would cover. Sure, we could absolutely do that!

I think we should keep that as a separate epic though.

[varunu28]

@alayek Yeah I am talking about those and also like the ones for which you mentioned Udacity course.
Still we can keep this for future. I would get started on this.

[alayek]

@varunu28 please join our chatroom to discuss this in detail.

[varunu28]

@alayek @ds-249
Can we have a basic mock-up design of what the articles need to cover and what should be the format for it?