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

ECMAScript or JavaScript?


When working with JavaScript, we find the term ECMAScript very often in books, blog posts, video courses, and so on. What does ECMAScript have to do with JavaScript, and is there a difference?

ECMA is an organization that standardizes information. Long story short, a long time ago, JavaScript was submitted to ECMA for standardization. This resulted in a new language standard, which we know as ECMAScript. JavaScript is an implementation of this specification (the most popular), which is known as ActionScript.

ES6, ES2015, ES7, ES2016, ES8, ES2017, and ES.Next

As we already know, JavaScript is a language that runs mostly on browsers (as well as in servers using NodeJS, and in desktop and mobile devices), and each browser can implement its own version of the available functionalities of JavaScript (as you will learn later on in this book). This specific implementation is based on ECMAScript. Thus, the browsers offer mostly the same functionalities (our JavaScript code...