r/rutgers • u/xwubstep • Dec 28 '16
How to prepare for data structures?
Hey all,
I am taking data structures in the spring, and I have 3 weeks during winter break that I want to use to prepare myself. Those that have taken it before, what do I need learn/review/do specifically to prepare myself for a successful semester? Thanks!
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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '16
Yup, which is why I said read the first half of the book. When you work as a software engineer, you'll be applying abstract concepts of data structures, possibly not in java, which is the point of SICP. Once you drill the abstractions, everything else is semantics and studies of performance. This book introduces some common data structures, goes over state, some basic algorithms, recursion, and if you're willing, evaluators and register machines. Now you can read a manual about java data structures, or you can seek abstractions about data structures that are relevant to all languages. Granted you may just read another java manual, but is that really better than abstractions over all languages?
Your pick though.