Algorithms: Absolute Beginner's Guide

Author: Kirupa Chinnathambi
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Date: November 2023
Pages: 416
ISBN: 978-0138222291
Print: 0138222290
Kindle: B0CCTZ37DQ
Audience: General
Rating: 4.5
Reviewer: Kay Ewbank

Subtitled 'a practical introduction to data structures and algorithms in JavaScript', this book is split into two parts; firstly, data structures, then algorithms.

Kirupa Chinnathambi has an easy going writing style and explains ideas well using good analogies. He has a popular blog on programming, and works at Microsoft on the Visual Studio team.

The book opens with a chapter introducing the need for data structures, followed by individual chapters on each of the data structures in more detail.

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Interestingly, Chinnathambi's first detailed chapter is about big-O notation and complexity analysis, the title of which I think would scare off many of the potential readers of the book. The explanation (big-O as a mathematical way to express the worst case scenario of how well code runs) is fine and understandable, and the reasoning seems to be that Chinnathambi uses the notation to analyze and compare the different algorithms. It just seems a bit complex as an opener.

Having dived into big-O notation, the next chapter introduces the concept of arrays as implemented in JavaScript. A chapter on linked lists is next, with examples of setting up and using singly, doubly and circular linked lists.

Stacks and queues each get a chapter. The chapter on stacks considers the runtime performance of different stack operators - push, pop, peak and search, as does the chapter on queues for enqueue, dequeue and peek. As with other chapters, there are examples of how to implement and use the structures in JavaScript code.

 

Most of the rest of Part 1 of the book is a series of chapters about different types of trees, from the basic tree through binary trees, binary search trees, heaps and prefix trees. There are also chapters on hashtables and graphs, which you may think of as specific types of tree structures depending on your viewpoint.

Part 2 moves on to algorithms, and again Chinnathambi shows an interesting way of thinking by starting with an introduction to recursion. This is introduced as a technique that allows developers to break down large, complicated problems into smaller, more manageable pieces, with the advantage of helping improve logical thinking and problem solving skills. Basic recursion is followed by a chapter on Fibonacci and going beyond recursion.

Other chapters in this part of the book examine well known algorithms including Towers of Hanoi, linear search, binary search, depth and breadth first searches. Interestingly, Quicksort comes before bubble sort in the list of chapters, and is followed by insertion sort, selection sort and merge sort.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The author writes well and keeps the material interesting with good examples. I didn't agree with all his decisions about how and when to introduce topics, but anybody reading the book would gain a useful overview of some of the key algorithms and their usefulness.

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Oracle PL/SQL By Example, 6th Ed

Author: Elena Rakhimov
Publisher: Oracle Press
Pages: 480
ISBN: 978-0138062835
Print: 0138062838
Audience: Developers interested in Oracle PL/SQL
Rating: 4
Reviewer: Kay Ewbank

This is the sixth edition of a well established title that has been updated for the latest version of PL/SQL (21c).



Visual Complex Analysis

Author:  Tristan Needham
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Pages: 616
ISBN: 978-0198534464
Print: 0198534469
Kindle: B0BNKJTJK1
Audience: The mathematically able and enthusiastic
Rating: 5
Reviewer: Mike James
What's complex about complex analysis?


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