Book Image

Learning JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms - Third Edition

Book Image

Learning JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms - Third Edition

Overview of this book

A data structure is a particular way of organizing data in a computer to utilize resources efficiently. Data structures and algorithms are the base of every solution to any programming problem. With this book, you will learn to write complex and powerful code using the latest ES 2017 features. Learning JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms begins by covering the basics of JavaScript and introduces you to ECMAScript 2017, before gradually moving on to the most important data structures such as arrays, queues, stacks, and linked lists. You will gain in-depth knowledge of how hash tables and set data structures function as well as how trees and hash maps can be used to search files in an HD or represent a database. This book serves as a route to take you deeper into JavaScript. You’ll also get a greater understanding of why and how graphs, one of the most complex data structures, are largely used in GPS navigation systems in social networks. Toward the end of the book, you’ll discover how all the theories presented in this book can be applied to solve real-world problems while working on your own computer networks and Facebook searches.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Title Page
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

Dynamic programming


Dynamic programming (DP) is an optimization technique used to solve complex problems by breaking them into smaller subproblems.

Note

Note that the dynamic programming approach is different from the divide and conquer approach. While the divide and conquer approach breaks the problem into independent subproblems and then combines the solutions, dynamic programming breaks the problem into dependent subproblems.

An example of a dynamic programming algorithm is the Fibonacci problem we solved in Chapter 9, Recursion. We broke the Fibonacci problem into smaller problems.

There are three important steps we need to follow when solving problems with DP:

  1. Define the subproblems.
  2. Implement the recurrence that solves the subproblems (in this step, we need to follow the steps for recursion that we discussed in the previous section).
  3. Recognize and solve the base cases.

There are some famous problems that can be solved with dynamic programming:

  • The knapsack problem: In this problem, given a...