1 Introduction to algorithms
In this chapter
- You get a foundation for the rest of the book.
- You write your first search algorithm (binary search).
- You learn how to talk about the running time of an algorithm (big O notation).
An algorithm is a set of instructions for accomplishing a task. Every piece of code could be called an algorithm, but this book covers the more interesting bits. I chose the algorithms in this book for inclusion because they’re fast, or they solve interesting problems, or both. Here are some highlights:
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Chapter 1 talks about binary search and shows how an algorithm can speed up your code. In one example, the number of steps needed goes from 4 billion down to 32!
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A GPS device uses graph algorithms (as you’ll learn in ...
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