5 ms·

Ask HN: What's the best algorithms and data structures online course?

273 points by zabana 9y ago

gameguy43 9y ago
The Intuitive Guide to Data Structures And Algorithms, on Interview Cake: https://www.interviewcake.com/data-structures-and-algorithms-guide https://www.interviewcake.com/data-structures-and-algorithms... Disclosure: my company made this :)
ahamedirshad123 9y ago
Don't know about the best, but I learned a lot from these two courses. https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/course-v1:Engineering+Algorithms1+SelfPaced/about https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/course-v1:Engineering+... https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/course-v1:Engineering+Algorithms2+SelfPaced/about https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/course-v1:Engineering+...
- zabana 9y ago
  Thanks, I've looked at the syllabus and it seems to be exactly what I'm looking for (Asymptotic analysis, and coverage of the most widely known algorithms).
- aretaic 9y ago
  Second this recommendation really enjoyed these courses as well. Tim explains everything in an easy to follow way.
- henrik_w 9y ago
  +1 for these. I took them a few years ago, and really enjoyed them! I reviewed both of them in detail: https://henrikwarne.com/2012/05/08/coursera-algorithms-course/ https://henrikwarne.com/2012/05/08/coursera-algorithms-cours... https://henrikwarne.com/2013/02/18/coursera-algorithms-course-part2/ https://henrikwarne.com/2013/02/18/coursera-algorithms-cours...
- deepGem 9y ago
  Tim Roughgarden is a fantastic teacher. I personally love his style and speed. He throws in some humor here and there and makes learning a lot of fun. His lectures on graphs are absolutely brilliant. This same course is available on Coursera as well.
  - ahamedirshad123 9y ago
    Yes. Same as Coursera. I took this on Coursera only, before specialization thing happened. Don't know if the course videos and exercises are fully available for audit purpose.
    - sam1906 9y ago
      They are available.
  - sigjuice 9y ago
    These were my favorite courses on Coursera. A lot of the course material is available here. http://theory.stanford.edu/~tim/algorithmsilluminated.html http://theory.stanford.edu/~tim/algorithmsilluminated.html There’s also the book “Algorithms Illuminated: Part 1: The Basics” by Tim Roughgarden https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0999282905/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0999282905/
- geritol 9y ago
  I can also really recommend these courses. Really like how Tim teaches!
osoba 9y ago
In addition to the Stanford courses mentioned in another comment, there are also two Princeton courses taught by Sedgewick https://www.coursera.org/instructor/~250165 https://www.coursera.org/instructor/~250165 and the MIT course taught by Demaine https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-006-introduction-to-algorithms-fall-2011/lecture-videos/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu...
- _asummers 9y ago
  The followup to the Demaine one is great too. Not at all intro, but great if your foundations are strong. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-851-advanced-data-structures-spring-2012/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu...
  - tudelo 9y ago
    Would you say this is good for someone who has recently graduated and has been in industry for a year or so to refresh on?
    - _asummers 9y ago
      They touch on a bunch of decently exotic data structures like van Emde Boas trees and things like cache oblivious data structures. If you're comfortable with data structures and algorithm design (which it sounds like you are, from your description) it should be accessible. At the end of the day it's just a graduate level CS course.
- sarumpaet 9y ago
  Sedgewick also has some great books.
jfaucett 9y ago
I know its not an online course and its a relatively massive tome, but I'd recommend just working through "Introduction to Algorithms" by Cormen/Leiserston/Rivest/Stein [1]. This book has great explanations and exercises for everything you could want to learn from the basics of sorting and algorithmic design and analysis, to graph algorithms, linear programming, and dynamic programming. It lacks some degree of depth on more advanced topics, but if you work your way through it and actually implement what you read and do the exercises, you will be more than well enough equipped to take on just about any problem. The key is going to be to actually implement what you read/learn, I think it might take you a little more time than watching an online course, but in the long run it will give you a much deeper knowledge of the material. 1. https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Cormen/dp/0262531968 https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Corm...
- siteshwar 9y ago
  Video lectures from MIT course with same name are available here[1]. Few lectures are given by Leiserson, who is one of the authors of this book. [1] http://videolectures.net/mit6046jf05_introduction_algorithms/ http://videolectures.net/mit6046jf05_introduction_algorithms...
- zombieprocess 9y ago
  Isn't this book too academical for any practical learning of algorithms and data structures? I would recommend The algorithm design manual for more practical purposes. https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Steven-Skiena/dp/1849967202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519228390&sr=8-1&keywords=the+algorithm+design+manual https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Steven-Skiena...
  - rudedogg 9y ago
    His lectures from 2016 are also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2bFN3MyNDA&list=PLOtl7M3yp-DX32N0fVIyvn7ipWKNGmwpp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2bFN3MyNDA&list=PLOtl7M3yp-...
  - jfaucett 9y ago
southphillyman 9y ago
Is it wise to do any of these courses without taking a course in linear algebra first? I started watching Skiena's algorithm course on youtube recently and he seemed to really emphasize finishing a course in linear algebra before taking any algorithm course. Thoughts?
- 3uclid 9y ago
  No, I don't believe so (from my experience as a CS undergrad).
  - bernardino 9y ago
    Linear algebra isn’t a prerequisite for learning data structures and algorithms. Though you typically do find linear algebra to be part of the lower division computer science curriculum at most colleges. I would recommend you take a course in it, I argue it expands one’s problem-solving mental models.
    - 3uclid 9y ago
      I certainly agree. However, if OP is simply referring to learning the typical algorithms presented in an undergraduate CS course, then linear algebra isn't a strict prerequisite.
- henrik_w 9y ago
  I took both of Tim Roughgarden's algorithm courses on Coursera, and in my opinion you don't need to know linear algebra to complete them.
- metaphyze 9y ago
  Just FYI, Kahn Academy's Linear Algebra course is great. Very thorough and well-thought-out.
- ahamedirshad123 9y ago
  Would recommend this for Linear Algebra. If possible, make a donation. He creates wonderful videos. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2xVFitgF8hE_ab https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2x...
ninjakeyboard 9y ago
The princeton one on coursera is really great and easy to read. Buy the book and take the course. Sedgewick is my hero. It doesn't require a lot of math in contrast to the Stanford coursera one. It's much easier for the general person to follow IMO. https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1 https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1
indescions_2018 9y ago
All good resources. I'd also add Algorithms, Etc. by Jeff Erickson. http://jeffe.cs.illinois.edu/teaching/algorithms/ http://jeffe.cs.illinois.edu/teaching/algorithms/ And for practice, Google Code Jam past problems are quite challenging ;) https://code.google.com/codejam/ https://code.google.com/codejam/
- WalterGR 9y ago
  The past problems are here: https://code.google.com/codejam/past-contests https://code.google.com/codejam/past-contests
ruslanmsv 9y ago
The best one is HSE & Yandex & Computer Science Club & UC San Diego 6 course specialization on coursera https://www.coursera.org/specializations/data-structures-algorithms https://www.coursera.org/specializations/data-structures-alg...
- chillytoes 9y ago
  I agree. This sequence of courses is the best I've found.
icc97 9y ago
It's not really a course but I found InterviewBit [0] a great resource. It structures everything around moving from simpler to more complex data structures and algorithms. It's kind of learning by doing lots and lots of questions. You have to complete enough problems in one section to move onto the next. I spent a hundred hours going through the various tests and it showed the power of functional programming / recursion. The questions that took me much longer than average were the ones where I had a bug and had to track it down. The recursive problems didn't suffer from this, ie I would get the solution pretty much correct first time. This could just have been the questions / my programming style but I found it eye opening. [0]: https://www.interviewbit.com/ https://www.interviewbit.com/
vthallam 9y ago
If your eventual goal after learning the basics is programming questions for interviews, there are a tons of resources like leetcode, interviewbit, geeksforgeeks. I started writing some of the FAQ with explanations here[1], check it out to see if it is of any help for you. [1] : http://letstalkalgorithms.com/ http://letstalkalgorithms.com/
anonoholic 9y ago
This is useful background: "Mathematics for Computer Science" https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/spring17/mcs.pdf https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/spring17/mcs.pdf
- zabana 9y ago
  Yeah I'm currently going through this course. Some of it is going over my head but I get the basic concepts
westurner 9y ago
These aren't courses, but from answers to "Ask HN: Recommended course/website/book to learn data structure and algorithms" : Data Structure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_structure Algorithm:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm Big O notation:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_O_notation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_O_notation Big-O Cheatsheet: http://bigocheatsheet.com http://bigocheatsheet.com Coding Interview University > Data Structures: https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university/blob/master/README.md#data-structures https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university/blob/... OSSU: Open Source Society University > Core CS > Core Theory > "Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part I" [&2] https://github.com/ossu/computer-science/blob/master/README.md#core-theory https://github.com/ossu/computer-science/blob/master/README.... "Algorithms, 4th Edition" (2011; Sedgewick, Wayne): https://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/ https://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/ Complexity Zoo > Petting Zoo (P, NP,): https://complexityzoo.uwaterloo.ca/Petting_Zoo https://complexityzoo.uwaterloo.ca/Petting_Zoo While perusing awesome-awesomeness [1], I found awesome-algorithms [2] , algovis [3], and awesome-big-o [4]. [1] https://github.com/bayandin/awesome-awesomeness https://github.com/bayandin/awesome-awesomeness [2] https://github.com/tayllan/awesome-algorithms https://github.com/tayllan/awesome-algorithms [3] https://github.com/enjalot/algovis https://github.com/enjalot/algovis [4] https://github.com/okulbilisim/awesome-big-o https://github.com/okulbilisim/awesome-big-o
vaibkv 9y ago
If you're willing to pay and are looking to crack interviews after the course, I would say take a look at InterviewKickstart. They are supposed to be the best bet to get into top 10 companies but are extremely pricey - 7200$ for 2 months. I declined and am practicing on my own using Leetcode. I come across a new concept required for a problem, I learn it.

273 points by zabana 9y ago

The Intuitive Guide to Data Structures And Algorithms, on Interview Cake: https://www.interviewcake.com/data-structures-and-algorithms-guide https://www.interviewcake.com/data-structures-and-algorithms... Disclosure: my company made this :)

ahamedirshad123 9y ago

Don't know about the best, but I learned a lot from these two courses. https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/course-v1:Engineering+Algorithms1+SelfPaced/about https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/course-v1:Engineering+... https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/course-v1:Engineering+Algorithms2+SelfPaced/about https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/course-v1:Engineering+...

zabana 9y ago
Thanks, I've looked at the syllabus and it seems to be exactly what I'm looking for (Asymptotic analysis, and coverage of the most widely known algorithms).
aretaic 9y ago
Second this recommendation really enjoyed these courses as well. Tim explains everything in an easy to follow way.
henrik_w 9y ago
+1 for these. I took them a few years ago, and really enjoyed them! I reviewed both of them in detail: https://henrikwarne.com/2012/05/08/coursera-algorithms-course/ https://henrikwarne.com/2012/05/08/coursera-algorithms-cours... https://henrikwarne.com/2013/02/18/coursera-algorithms-course-part2/ https://henrikwarne.com/2013/02/18/coursera-algorithms-cours...
deepGem 9y ago
Tim Roughgarden is a fantastic teacher. I personally love his style and speed. He throws in some humor here and there and makes learning a lot of fun. His lectures on graphs are absolutely brilliant. This same course is available on Coursera as well.
- ahamedirshad123 9y ago
  Yes. Same as Coursera. I took this on Coursera only, before specialization thing happened. Don't know if the course videos and exercises are fully available for audit purpose.
  - sam1906 9y ago
    They are available.
- sigjuice 9y ago
  These were my favorite courses on Coursera. A lot of the course material is available here. http://theory.stanford.edu/~tim/algorithmsilluminated.html http://theory.stanford.edu/~tim/algorithmsilluminated.html There’s also the book “Algorithms Illuminated: Part 1: The Basics” by Tim Roughgarden https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0999282905/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0999282905/
geritol 9y ago
I can also really recommend these courses. Really like how Tim teaches!

osoba 9y ago

In addition to the Stanford courses mentioned in another comment, there are also two Princeton courses taught by Sedgewick https://www.coursera.org/instructor/~250165 https://www.coursera.org/instructor/~250165 and the MIT course taught by Demaine https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-006-introduction-to-algorithms-fall-2011/lecture-videos/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu...

_asummers 9y ago
The followup to the Demaine one is great too. Not at all intro, but great if your foundations are strong. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-851-advanced-data-structures-spring-2012/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu...
- tudelo 9y ago
  Would you say this is good for someone who has recently graduated and has been in industry for a year or so to refresh on?
  - _asummers 9y ago
    They touch on a bunch of decently exotic data structures like van Emde Boas trees and things like cache oblivious data structures. If you're comfortable with data structures and algorithm design (which it sounds like you are, from your description) it should be accessible. At the end of the day it's just a graduate level CS course.
sarumpaet 9y ago
Sedgewick also has some great books.

jfaucett 9y ago

I know its not an online course and its a relatively massive tome, but I'd recommend just working through "Introduction to Algorithms" by Cormen/Leiserston/Rivest/Stein [1]. This book has great explanations and exercises for everything you could want to learn from the basics of sorting and algorithmic design and analysis, to graph algorithms, linear programming, and dynamic programming. It lacks some degree of depth on more advanced topics, but if you work your way through it and actually implement what you read and do the exercises, you will be more than well enough equipped to take on just about any problem. The key is going to be to actually implement what you read/learn, I think it might take you a little more time than watching an online course, but in the long run it will give you a much deeper knowledge of the material. 1. https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Cormen/dp/0262531968 https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Corm...

siteshwar 9y ago
Video lectures from MIT course with same name are available here[1]. Few lectures are given by Leiserson, who is one of the authors of this book. [1] http://videolectures.net/mit6046jf05_introduction_algorithms/ http://videolectures.net/mit6046jf05_introduction_algorithms...
zombieprocess 9y ago
Isn't this book too academical for any practical learning of algorithms and data structures? I would recommend The algorithm design manual for more practical purposes. https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Steven-Skiena/dp/1849967202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519228390&sr=8-1&keywords=the+algorithm+design+manual https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Steven-Skiena...
- rudedogg 9y ago
  His lectures from 2016 are also on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2bFN3MyNDA&list=PLOtl7M3yp-DX32N0fVIyvn7ipWKNGmwpp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2bFN3MyNDA&list=PLOtl7M3yp-...
- jfaucett 9y ago

southphillyman 9y ago

Is it wise to do any of these courses without taking a course in linear algebra first? I started watching Skiena's algorithm course on youtube recently and he seemed to really emphasize finishing a course in linear algebra before taking any algorithm course. Thoughts?

3uclid 9y ago
No, I don't believe so (from my experience as a CS undergrad).
- bernardino 9y ago
  Linear algebra isn’t a prerequisite for learning data structures and algorithms. Though you typically do find linear algebra to be part of the lower division computer science curriculum at most colleges. I would recommend you take a course in it, I argue it expands one’s problem-solving mental models.
  - 3uclid 9y ago
    I certainly agree. However, if OP is simply referring to learning the typical algorithms presented in an undergraduate CS course, then linear algebra isn't a strict prerequisite.
henrik_w 9y ago
I took both of Tim Roughgarden's algorithm courses on Coursera, and in my opinion you don't need to know linear algebra to complete them.
metaphyze 9y ago
Just FYI, Kahn Academy's Linear Algebra course is great. Very thorough and well-thought-out.
ahamedirshad123 9y ago
Would recommend this for Linear Algebra. If possible, make a donation. He creates wonderful videos. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2xVFitgF8hE_ab https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2x...

ninjakeyboard 9y ago

The princeton one on coursera is really great and easy to read. Buy the book and take the course. Sedgewick is my hero. It doesn't require a lot of math in contrast to the Stanford coursera one. It's much easier for the general person to follow IMO. https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1 https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1

indescions_2018 9y ago

All good resources. I'd also add Algorithms, Etc. by Jeff Erickson. http://jeffe.cs.illinois.edu/teaching/algorithms/ http://jeffe.cs.illinois.edu/teaching/algorithms/ And for practice, Google Code Jam past problems are quite challenging ;) https://code.google.com/codejam/ https://code.google.com/codejam/

WalterGR 9y ago
The past problems are here: https://code.google.com/codejam/past-contests https://code.google.com/codejam/past-contests

ruslanmsv 9y ago

The best one is HSE & Yandex & Computer Science Club & UC San Diego 6 course specialization on coursera https://www.coursera.org/specializations/data-structures-algorithms https://www.coursera.org/specializations/data-structures-alg...

chillytoes 9y ago
I agree. This sequence of courses is the best I've found.

icc97 9y ago

It's not really a course but I found InterviewBit [0] a great resource. It structures everything around moving from simpler to more complex data structures and algorithms. It's kind of learning by doing lots and lots of questions. You have to complete enough problems in one section to move onto the next. I spent a hundred hours going through the various tests and it showed the power of functional programming / recursion. The questions that took me much longer than average were the ones where I had a bug and had to track it down. The recursive problems didn't suffer from this, ie I would get the solution pretty much correct first time. This could just have been the questions / my programming style but I found it eye opening. [0]: https://www.interviewbit.com/ https://www.interviewbit.com/

vthallam 9y ago

If your eventual goal after learning the basics is programming questions for interviews, there are a tons of resources like leetcode, interviewbit, geeksforgeeks. I started writing some of the FAQ with explanations here[1], check it out to see if it is of any help for you. [1] : http://letstalkalgorithms.com/ http://letstalkalgorithms.com/

anonoholic 9y ago

This is useful background: "Mathematics for Computer Science" https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/spring17/mcs.pdf https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/spring17/mcs.pdf

zabana 9y ago
Yeah I'm currently going through this course. Some of it is going over my head but I get the basic concepts

westurner 9y ago

These aren't courses, but from answers to "Ask HN: Recommended course/website/book to learn data structure and algorithms" : Data Structure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_structure Algorithm:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm Big O notation:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_O_notation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_O_notation Big-O Cheatsheet: http://bigocheatsheet.com http://bigocheatsheet.com Coding Interview University > Data Structures: https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university/blob/master/README.md#data-structures https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university/blob/... OSSU: Open Source Society University > Core CS > Core Theory > "Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part I" [&2] https://github.com/ossu/computer-science/blob/master/README.md#core-theory https://github.com/ossu/computer-science/blob/master/README.... "Algorithms, 4th Edition" (2011; Sedgewick, Wayne): https://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/ https://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/ Complexity Zoo > Petting Zoo (P, NP,): https://complexityzoo.uwaterloo.ca/Petting_Zoo https://complexityzoo.uwaterloo.ca/Petting_Zoo While perusing awesome-awesomeness [1], I found awesome-algorithms [2] , algovis [3], and awesome-big-o [4]. [1] https://github.com/bayandin/awesome-awesomeness https://github.com/bayandin/awesome-awesomeness [2] https://github.com/tayllan/awesome-algorithms https://github.com/tayllan/awesome-algorithms [3] https://github.com/enjalot/algovis https://github.com/enjalot/algovis [4] https://github.com/okulbilisim/awesome-big-o https://github.com/okulbilisim/awesome-big-o

vaibkv 9y ago

If you're willing to pay and are looking to crack interviews after the course, I would say take a look at InterviewKickstart. They are supposed to be the best bet to get into top 10 companies but are extremely pricey - 7200$ for 2 months. I declined and am practicing on my own using Leetcode. I come across a new concept required for a problem, I learn it.