Today’s world relies heavily on data and its proper management via widely used apps and software. Data Structure and Algorithms are the foundation for effective data management (for convenience, here we will use the term DSA). Many wish to gain expertise in handling and creating these apps and software. They embarked on the journey of learning DSA with this goal in mind. The first step in the journey is to create a comprehensive roadmap for learning data structures and algorithms.
This article will attempt to make that task easier for you. You will find a complete roadmap for learning data structure and algorithms for anyone interested in learning DSA from the ground up. Also, you can check out Learnbay’s comprehensive system design course, to master DSA for your next technical interview.
5 Steps to Learning DSA From the Ground Up
The first and most important step is to divide the entire procedure into small pieces that must be completed sequentially.
The entire process of learning DSA from scratch can be divided into five stages:
1. Study a programming language of your choosing.
2. Study the complexities of Time and Space.
3. Understand the fundamentals of individual data structures and algorithms.
4. Practice, Practice, Practice some more
5. Compete and Advance Your Career
Before beginning any data structure or algorithm, you must understand how to express or implement it. As a result, the first step is to learn any programming language. Now that you have the prerequisites, you can begin learning DSA while practicing it regularly and competing in challenges to gauge and sharpen your ability.
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Be familiar with at least one programming language
This should be your first step toward learning data structures and algorithms. Before learning to write a sentence or an essay on a topic, we as humans try to learn that language’s alphabet, letters, and punctuation and how and when to use them. The same is true for programming.
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Learn Complexities
This is one of the more interesting and important topics. The primary reason for using DSA is to solve a problem effectively and efficiently. How can you tell if the program you wrote is efficient or not? This is measured in terms of complexities. There are two kinds of complexity:
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Time Complexity: The amount of time required to execute the code is measured by time complexity.
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Space Complexity: Space complexity is the amount of space required to execute the code’s functionalities successfully.
In DSA, you will also encounter the term Auxiliary space, which refers to the extra space used in the program other than the input data structure.
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Become acquainted with data structures and algorithms
This is the most important and anticipated roadmap stage for learning data structure and algorithm – the stage where you begin learning about DSA. DSA is divided into two sections:
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Algorithms
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Data Structures
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Practice, Practice, Practice some more
With this, we have completed the fundamentals of major data structures and algorithms, and it is now time to experiment with each of them.
This is extremely useful for learning DSA. You’ve learned a lot of data structures and algorithms, but you still need to practice a lot. This can be viewed as a separate step or an integrated part of the DSA learning process. Because of its significance, we are discussing it separately.
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Compete and Advance Your Career
It is now time to put your abilities and efficiency to the test. Competing against others is the best way. This will help you determine your position in relation to others and give you an idea of where you are lacking.
Conclusion
Is that all? Is all of this required to master Data Structures and Algorithms and become a DSA Hero from Zero? If you followed the DSA mentioned above learning roadmap, this is it. You’ve started, learned, practiced, and competed long enough to call yourself a DSA Pro.
However, learning, like the universe, is limitless. You can never learn everything there is to know about any subject. So keep practicing and staying current with new competitions, topics, and problems. Join Learnbay which offers full stack developer course, for working professionals wanting to upgrade themselves.
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