Algorithm and Data-structures for Frontend Engineers

Algorithms and data structures are a fancy way to talk about how we store and organize data and the steps we take to solve problems involving this data. They are like learning your ABCs, you may argue that you will never use the ABCs in real life but they sure make it easier to read this article don’t they?

In the past month, I have found myself solving more algorithm challenges and at first, I did it because I knew it was a basic requirement for interviews but then, I started to enjoy it, I started to look for ways to apply the things I have learned into what I do every day. I started to think about optimization steps and things I should have done differently in some of my older projects.

One of the most frequently asked questions, which now sounds ludicrous to me even though I had once asked it, is “Do frontend engineers need algorithms and data structures?”. One of the answers on Quora said, “well, why not? Frontend engineers are not less of an engineer than the backend engineers”. and I guess that answers that question.

Most people would argue that there are some complex algorithms that we do not need to get the job done on a daily basis, and I would agree. I have only recently heard about Tries and I have most certainly not needed to use a Binary tree but I don’t think that makes them less important. I think knowing that these exists can open up our minds to the possibilities of the things we can use them for.

I am going on a journey and I am inviting you to go on this journey with me. I have no CS background and all I know, I have learned from books like Eloquent Javascript, Cracking the Coding Interview, YouTube videos, W3schools, Articles on websites like Geek for Geeks, etc and I have this elaborate plan, to go from newbie with algorithm and data-structures to a ninja or maybe a ninja’s second.

So, for as long as it takes, I will be explaining algorithm concepts the way I understand them, solving problems with each topic, and trying to beat the time in the hot seat segments, I will be solving some front-end challenges as well as joining more coding competitions. I will be posting on my channel — AlgoGirl and you could like and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss a thing.