Some of us have an innate fear or at least a little apprehension about
learning new technology, and algorithmic design and data structure techniques
are no exception to that notion. Some may even avoid something they are
interested in because of industry jargon and preconceived notions of the
difficulties of making original code.
Knowing the practical uses of specific types of data structures will
make producing better algorithms just a little easier. In the textbook Data
Structures and Algorithm Analysis, the author describes two basic rules of
thought to direct any programmer to write code that is easy to read, understand,
decode and debug – the design should be efficient and effective while using computer
resources. Shaffer, (2013)
Starting with the basics of gathering information that will help decide which
type of algorithm will benefit your program the most. Think about lists, sorting,
and types of searches such as Binary searches. These are core algorithms that
can spur your program to be fast and flawless. Understanding that algorithms
are structured methods can help your difficulties writing them because they are
somewhat modular in their design and scope. Having modular structures means
that you will not have to reinvent the proverbial wheel each time you write
code so take heart in knowing we all make mistakes, and there is a myriad of
corrective actions built into IDEs that can help you resolve yours.
Reference
Shaffer,
C. (2013). Data Structures and
Algorithm Analysis Edition 3.2 (Java Version). https://people.cs.vt.edu/~shaffer/Book/JAVA3elatest.pdf