Book Image

C# Data Structures and Algorithms - Second Edition

By : Marcin Jamro
Book Image

C# Data Structures and Algorithms - Second Edition

By: Marcin Jamro

Overview of this book

Building your own applications is exciting but challenging, especially when tackling complex problems tied to advanced data structures and algorithms. This endeavor demands profound knowledge of the programming language as well as data structures and algorithms – precisely what this book offers to C# developers. Starting with an introduction to algorithms, this book gradually immerses you in the world of arrays, lists, stacks, queues, dictionaries, and sets. Real-world examples, enriched with code snippets and illustrations, provide a practical understanding of these concepts. You’ll also learn how to sort arrays using various algorithms, setting a solid foundation for your programming expertise. As you progress through the book, you’ll venture into more complex data structures – trees and graphs – and discover algorithms for tasks such as determining the shortest path in a graph before advancing to see various algorithms in action, such as solving Sudoku. By the end of the book, you’ll have learned how to use the C# language to build algorithmic components that are not only easy to understand and debug but also seamlessly applicable in various applications, spanning web and mobile platforms.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)

Priority queues

A priority queue makes it possible to extend the concept of a queue by setting a priority for each element in the queue. The elements are dequeued starting from those with the highest priority. Within each priority, you dequeue items in the same order as in a standard queue. It is worth mentioning that the priority can be specified simply as an integer value. It depends on the implementation whether smaller or greater values indicate higher priority. In the book, it is assumed that the highest priority is equal to 0, while lower priority is specified by 1, 2, 3, and so on.

Imagine a priority queue

If you want to better visualize a priority queue, close your eyes for a moment and imagine yourself going on the greatest vacation of your life. All passengers are already lining up at the gate, including you, but it turns out that right next to it, there is a much shorter queue for people who have a gold airline card. There are only 3 people in that line, and in yours...