Data Structures the Fun Way: An Amusing Adventure with Coffee-Filled Examples
Original price was: $39.99.$34.99Current price is: $34.99.
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Learn how and when to use the right data structures in any situation, strengthening your computational thinking, problem-solving, and programming skills in the process.
This accessible and entertaining book provides an in-depth introduction to computational thinking through the lens of data structures — a critical component in any programming endeavor. You’ll learn how to work with more than 15 key data structures, from stacks, queues, and caches to bloom filters, skip lists, and graphs. You’ll also master linked lists by virtually standing in line at a cafe, hash tables by cataloging the history of the summer Olympics, and Quadtrees by neatly organizing your kitchen cabinets, all while becoming familiar with basic computer science concepts, like recursion and running time analysis.
Publisher : No Starch Press
Publication date : November 8, 2022
Language : English
Print length : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 1718502605
ISBN-13 : 978-1718502604
Item Weight : 13 ounces
Dimensions : 7 x 0.61 x 9.25 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #533,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #26 in Computer Algorithms #71 in Programming Algorithms #112 in Data Modeling & Design (Books)
Customer Reviews: 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (42) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
8 reviews for Data Structures the Fun Way: An Amusing Adventure with Coffee-Filled Examples
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Original price was: $39.99.$34.99Current price is: $34.99.
David Weiseth –
Great book on how data structures dictate algorithms
This is a great topic, it makes you think hard about the data structure as the root of all your subsequent constraints on the algorithmic side. However I will admit my inferior brain did not understand chapter 4, meaning I think I understood the disparate topics, but I never saw the connection between the stack and the depth first search, and queues and the branch first search. Maybe I did not understand how the graph was constructed. I really think trees are a special important graph, so I do see that aspect and how algorithms can choose to branch first vs bottom out first. I think this raises the aspect of where do I stop exploring meaning what am I looking for. I did finally understand that linked lists are a graph and all pointer chains are graphs at their core. I am hoping their is more treatment of specialized graphs as a topic. I continue reading this really weighty and interesting book.
kmc –
Low quality print
Letter quality inkjet printing on a bleached pulp-like paper.At least the cover is on par with other soft cover No-Starch Press books I’ve bought lately.I like the physical quality of expensive books to be on par with the price.Disappointed.
Suaroman –
Good book – but not for me
Friend let me flip through his book. The book can be fun and exciting and still use real code rather than pseudo code . Not for me
GeoffDantes09 –
Entertaining Intro to Data Structures
Tldr 4.5Pro: great sense of humor, excellent analogies to the data structures in the real world (not just but often coffee based)Cons: Pseudo code is a little unclear. Author explains desire to be language agnostic but is written in a weird C and Python mixThe book covers the usual introductory data structures and adds in a few more specialized structures for fun. It also walks through related algorithms. Each chapter typically involves real world examples—making maps, searching a book, etc. Definitely plenty of coffee based examples. The author uses tons of humor and puns which I enjoyed. But if you want a no-nonsense approach then probably don’t want to buy a book with fun in the title.As stated the pseudo-code examples are a little tricky to follow due to the mix of explanations, C type structs, Python like white space, and types (written out rather than usual abbreviations). This being said the illustrations with the code are excellent and walk through the main methods on each data structure. Also lack of BigO notation for the algorithms is a little disappointing. But at least the author address memory vs speed and flexibility vs memory.Overall excellent intro. Fun to read and learn from.
Alfeu Pereira da Silva Junior –
Excelente para iniciantes. Explica estruturas de dados com exemplos criativos e linguagem simples. As analogias com café deixam tudo mais fácil de entender. Não é técnico demais, mas cumpre bem o papel de introdução. Recomendo como leitura complementar.
Samuel –
Muy serio en sus explicaciones teóricas y las analogías del café divertidas.
Christiane Barthel –
Das Buch ist super! Es geht inhaltlich wirklich in die Tiefe, ist aber gleichzeitig so geschrieben, dass man es einfach gerne liest. Klare Empfehlung!
Joe Rat –
Yet another fantastic book from No Starch Press. This book is intended for those who already know one or more computer languages. It is a specialistic book that deals with Data Structures and how to implement them. It shows the implementation of 15 core data structures. For example it deals with searching, hash tables, binary search trees, efficiency of the various algorithms used and much more. The book is richly illustrated, a fact that simplifies the comprehension of the, sometimes, difficult concepts. The book does not use a specific computer language but is Language-Agnostic, in the sense that the various examples are written in pseudocode. This shouldn’t be a problem for a good programmer. The various data structures are exemplified in very clear examples, that use very witty examples. The quality of the book is very high, as always with the No Starch Press. I highly recommend it, get yourself a copy and enjoy!