The importance of data structures

A data structure is a way to organize and store data in a computer's memory, enabling the data to be efficiently accessed and modified.

Think about data structures as containers designed to hold specific types of information, that have their own way of arranging and managing the information. For example, in your home, you cook food in the kitchen, sleep in the bedroom, and take a shower in the bathroom. Each place in a house or apartment is designed with a specific goal for certain tasks so we can keep our home organized.

In the real world, data can often be overly complex, due to factors such as volume, various forms (numbers, dates, text, images, emails), and the speed that data is generated, among other factors. Data structures bring order to this chaos, allowing computers to handle vast amounts of information systematically and efficiently. Think of it like a well-organized library compared to a very large pile of books. Finding a specific book...

Why algorithms matter

Computers are powerful tools, but their intelligence is derived from the instructions we provide. Algorithms are the sets of rules and procedures that guide a computer's actions, enabling it to solve problems, make decisions, and perform complex tasks. In essence, algorithms are the language through which we communicate with computers, transforming them from mere machines into intelligent problem-solvers.

Algorithms can turn tasks into repeatable and automated processes. If you need to generate a report every day at work, this is a task that can be automated using an algorithm.

Algorithms are around us every day, from search engines to social networks, to self-driving cars. Algorithms and data structures are what make them function. Understanding data structures and algorithms unlocks the ability to create and innovate in the technology world.

As software developers, writing algorithms and manipulating data are core aspects of our work. This is precisely why...

Why companies ask for these concepts during interviews

There are many reasons why companies focus on data structures and algorithms concepts during job interviews, even if you are not going to use some of these concepts during daily tasks, including:

• Problem-solving skills: data structures and algorithms are a great tool to evaluate the candidate's problem-solving abilities. They can be used to evaluate how a person approaches unfamiliar problems, breaks them down into smaller tasks and designs a solution.
• Coding proficiency: companies can evaluate how candidates translate their solution into clean and efficient code, how candidates choose the appropriate data structure for the problem, design an algorithm with the correct logic, consider edge cases and optimize their code.
• Software performance: a strong understanding of data structures and algorithms translates directly to successful delivery of every development task, such as designing scalable solutions by choosing the right...

Why choose JavaScript to learn data structures and algorithms?

JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages in the world, according to various industry surveys, making it an excellent choice if you are already familiar with the basics of programming. The thriving JavaScript community and the abundance of online resources create a supportive and dynamic environment for learning, collaborating, and advancing your career as a JavaScript developer.

JavaScript is also a beginner friendly language and you do not need to worry about complex memory management concepts that exist in other languages such as C++. This is extremely helpful especially when learning data structures like linked lists, trees, and graphs, which are dynamic data structures due to their ability to grow or shrink in size during program execution (runtime), and when using JavaScript, you can focus on the data structure concepts, without mixing with memory management controls.

As JavaScript is used for web development...

Setting up the environment

One of the pros of the JavaScript language compared to other languages is that you do not need to install or configure a complicated environment to get started with it. To follow the examples in this book, you will need to download Node.js from https://nodejs.org so we can execute the source code. On the download page, you will find detailed steps to download and install Node.js in your operating system.

As a rule of thumb, always download the LTS (Long Term Support) version, which is often used by enterprise companies.

While JavaScript can run in both browsers and Node.js, the latter provides a more streamlined and focused environment for studying data structures and algorithms. Node.js eliminates browser-specific complexities, offers powerful debugging tools, and facilitates a more direct approach to learning these core concepts.

The source code for this book is also available in TypeScript, which offers enhanced type safety and structure. To run TypeScript...

JavaScript Fundamentals

Before we start diving into the various data structures and algorithms, let's have a quick overview of the JavaScript language. This section will present the JavaScript fundamental concepts required to implement the algorithms we will create in the subsequent chapters.

console.log('Hello, World!');

TypeScript fundamentals

TypeScript is an open source gradually typed superset of JavaScript created and maintained by Microsoft. Gradual typing is a type system that combines elements of both static typing and dynamic typing within the same programming language.

TypeScript allows us to add types to our JavaScript code, improving code readability, improving early error detection as we can catch type-related errors during development and enhanced tooling as code editors and IDEs offer better code autocompletion and navigation.

Regarding the scope of this book, with TypeScript we can use some Object-Oriented concepts that are not available in JavaScript such as interfaces - this can be useful when working with data structures and sorting algorithms. And of course, we can also leverage the typing functionality, which is especially important for some data structures. In algorithms that modify data structures, like searching or sorting, ensuring consistent data types within the collection is...

Summary

In this chapter, we learned the importance of learning data structures and algorithms, and how it can make us better developers and help us pass technical job interviews in technology. We also reviewed reasons why we chose JavaScript to learn and apply these concepts.

You learned how to set up the development environment to be able to create or execute the examples in this book. We also covered the basics of the JavaScript language that are needed prior to getting started with developing the algorithms and data structures we will cover throughout the book.

We also covered a comprehensive introduction to TypeScript, showcasing its ability to enhance JavaScript with static typing and error checking for more reliable code. We explored essential concepts like interfaces, type inference, and generics, empowering us to write more robust and maintainable data structures and algorithms.

In the next chapter, we'll shift our focus to the critical topic of Big O notation, a fundamental...