The Self-Taught Computer Scientist: The Beginner's Guide to Data Structures & Algorithms

DISCLAIMER: Got the book today (10/19/2021) and got 4 chapters in. I had been waiting for a book like this from a writer like Cory. I'm a fan of his previous work but this book is special to me. Read on... I am a self taught data engineer and I always felt lacking in the topics this book covers. When I finish the book I will update the review. For now, if you're on the fence... Give him your money. The code sections are well written and simple to understand. I really love the way he lays things out where he shows how to write an algorithm such as a search tree but also explains how to do the same thing using methods or imported libraries. The concepts are straightforward to follow and I feel as if I can get to work and directly apply his theory to my prod code. Very grateful for his work.

I've been looking through countless youtube videos and websites trying to figure out how to better comprehend data structures & algorithms. The explanations in this book are concise and paint a picture so you vividly remember each term and what each term looks like physically. It's a 10/10 will be buying his other books as well.

Good helpful information

I originally recommended this book for beginners in my review. I had read a few early sections that seemed ok. I’ve become more disappointed as I keep reading. A great example is the chapter on heaps. He confuses the definition with one specific application of a heap when he defines it as “a tree based structure on which each node keeps track of two pieces of information: a value and its priority.” By using such a narrow definition, I’m afraid the generality of this structure and its other applications could be lost to the reader. Wikipedia offers a much better definition: a “tree that satisfies the heap property: in a max heap, for any given node C, if P is a parent node of C, then the key (the value) of P is greater than or equal to the key of C.” What’s more, after walking the reader through a visual example of how items are ordered in a heap, he never provides any code to implement one. Instead, he shows how to use Python’s built in library. Since this book is supposed to be for “self taught computer scientists” and not “self taught Python coders,” this seems to be an egregious oversight. It would also be helpful if the author would describe why algorithms work the way they do instead of simply providing solutions. The book feels very much like an answer key instead of a textbook. Complexities are simply provided without explanation. Additionally, I’ve found a number of typos throughout the book. Overall, the book comes across as a rough draft that was published with no peer review or critique from peers. While there’s certainly some value here for beginners, I’m hesitant to recommend it because it seems to have a narrow perspective and relies too heavily on Python’s capabilities instead of teaching the underlaying algorithms. I won’t say this couldn’t be helpful to people. It definitely could be the text that provides the key insight someone needs as they’re wrestling with a problem, and it’s a decent overview of basic structures and algorithms. But it’s more of a jumping off point to go find what topics you need to learn.

Enjoy this book a lot for helping to understand some of the challenges for creating economical (not wasting memory or resources) code. In tech, but not as a programmer. Which is nice. ;)

Good price.

The book is very effective in breaking down rather difficult topics that I myself have found during my studies of computer science. One of the most helpful parts of Cory's book for me is his explanation of sorting algorithms AND when they can be applied. In my lectures, they only really talked about how the same sorting algorithms work. I enjoy Cory's prose in his book and it has immensely helped me bridge gaps in my own understanding of data structures and algorithms.

Helped me learn how sort algorithms work. The doting chapter on Elon Musk did not age well in 2022.

Gook book to cover the basics for beginners but would be even better if there were more advanced examples and explanations covered

Poor quality printing. Seems like photocopy