Data Structure: The First Chapter of My Journey in Computer Science
Do you think learning how to code is the most important first step in computer science? If so, you might have overseen something more crucial than knocking on the keyboard.
Why did I learn data structure?
When I first stepped foot in computer science, I could not wait to write a bunch of code and see them compile successfully and think that “now I know something about computer science and programming”. Upon taking one Udemy programming course after another, I had certainly picked up a few languages such as Python and C++, yet I did not fully understand how things really worked behind the scenes of each line of code I wrote. I experienced that a solid fundamental in data structure — how data is handled and how computer operational logic works — was so necessary even before writing my very first line of code. Therefore, I started to study data structures.
Before you read any further, I would like you to note that the following material/resources are what I found useful. There are tons of other resources can be found online that might be equivalently useful, but I hope the resrouces I found is helpful for you.
How did I go about learning data structure?
There are three main sources that I used for learning data structure:
(1) UIUC Computer Science Fundamentals Specialization (on Coursera)
(2) UIUC CS 225 course past exams/practice
(3) Youtube
(1) UIUC Computer Science Fundamentals Specialization course
This specialization course consists of three parts:
I. Object-Oriented Data Structures in C++
The first part covers the C++ language and concepts like Classes, constructors, Stack/Heap, Pointers, Reference, etc.
II. Ordered Data Structure
The second part covers basic data structures like an array, linked list, queue, binary search tree, heap, etc.
III. Unordered Data Structure
The third part covers more advanced data structures like hash tables and graphs, etc.
(2) UIUC CS 225 course past exams/practice
On top of the Coursera course, I worked on practice exams to consolidate my learning. A lot of resources can be found on the website of CS 225.
(3) Youtube
Although the Coursera lectures include explanations on each concept, the lectures might lack step-by-step visualization for new learners to follow. Therefore, I looked for Youtube videos and found Paul Programming & Tech Dose really explains well with detailed animations which makes it so much easier to understand the abstract concepts.
Conclusion
After learning data structure, I have gained a comprehensive understanding of how the computer handles data and what structures can be used for performance optimization. I have become more confident now in learning other languages such as Java and other tools as I realize I have had the foundation to take on advanced topics like algorithms.
I hope that this article can help kickstart your journey in learning data structure. Thanks for reading.