Programming Foundations: Data Structures (2023)

Course details

Once you get past simple programs with one or two variables, you'll use data structures to store the values in your applications. Data structures are a lot like containers—there's one for every way you want to store your data. While structures like arrays and queues are sometimes taken for granted, a deeper understanding is vital for any programmer who wants to know what's going on "under the hood" and understand how the choices they've made impact the performance and efficiency of their applications. In this course, Kathryn Hodge provides an in-depth overview of the most essential data structures for modern programming in Python. Starting with simple ways of grouping data, like arrays, lists, and tuples, Kathryn gradually introduces more complex data structures, such as dictionaries, sets, queues, and stacks. Each lesson is accompanied by a real-world, practical example that shows the data structures in action. Upon completing this course, you'll have a richer understanding of data structures and how to leverage them as you code.

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Working with data structures
02 - What you should know

1. Begin with Data Structures

03 - What is data
04 - Introduction to data structures
05 - Built-in data structures in Python
06 - Big O notation

2. Arrays

07 - What is an array
08 - Create a list in Python
09 - Retrieve data from a list in Python
10 - Mutate a list in Python
11 - Multidimensional lists
12 - Tuples in Python
13 - Search array-like structures
14 - Sort array-like structures
15 - Challenge - Find the second smallest item
16 - Solution - Find the second smallest item
17 - When to use array-like structures

3. Dictionaries

18 - What is a dictionary
19 - Create a dictionary in Python
20 - Mutate a dictionary in Python
21 - Challenge - Drop empty items
22 - Solution - Drop empty items
23 - When to use dictionaries

4. Sets

24 - What is a set
25 - Create a set in Python
26 - Operations on sets in Python
27 - Immutable sets in Python
28 - Challenge - Unique characters
29 - Solution - Unique characters
30 - When to use sets

5. Queues

31 - What is a queue
32 - Use deque as a queue
33 - Challenge - Generate binary numbers
34 - Solution - Generate binary numbers
35 - When to use queues

6. Stacks

36 - What is a stack
37 - Use a list as a stack
38 - Use deque as a stack
39 - Challenge - Matching parentheses
40 - Solution - Matching parentheses
41 - When to use stacks

Conclusion

42 - How to decide which data structure to use