E-Books: Data Structures & Algorithms in Javaby Robert Lafore
What This Book Is About
This book is about data structures and algorithms as used in computer programming. Data structures are ways in which data is arranged in your computer's memory (or stored on disk). Algorithms are the procedures a software program uses to manipulate the data in these structures.
Almost every computer program, even a simple one, uses data structures and algorithms. For example, consider a program that prints address labels. The program might use an array containing the addresses to be printed, and a simple for loop to step through the array, printing each address.
The array in this example is a data structure, and the for loop, used for sequential access to the array, executes a simple algorithm. For uncomplicated programs with small amounts of data, such a simple approach might be all you need. However, for programs that handle even moderately large amounts of data, or that solve problems that are slightly out of the ordinary, more sophisticated techniques are necessary. Simply knowing the syntax of a computer language such as Java or C++ isn't enough.
This book is about what you need to know after you've learned a programming language. The material we cover here is typically taught in colleges and universities as a second-year course in computer science, after a student has mastered the fundamentals of programming.
W hat's Different About This Book
There are dozens of books on data structures and algorithms. What's different about this one? Three things:
- Our primary goal in writing this book is to make the topics we cover easy to understand.
- Demonstration programs called Workshop applets bring to life the topics we cover, showing you step by step, with "moving pictures," how data structures and algorithms work.
- The example code is written in Java, which is easier to understand than C, C++, or Pascal, the languages traditionally used to demonstrate computer science topics.
