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Learning efficient algorithms
I recently came across an problem that was solved by applying the correct algorithm: Calculating plugin dependencies
While I was eventually able to understand the logic of the prescribed algorithm, it was not an easy task for me. The only reason I was able to come up with code that worked was because of the logic example on the wikipedia page.
Being entirely self taught, without any CS or math background, I’d like to at least get some practical foundation to being able to apply algorithms to solve problems.
That said, are there any great books / resources (something akin to ‘algorithms for dummies’) that doesn’t expect you have completed college Algebra 9 or Calculus 5 that can teach the basics? I don’t expect to ever be a wizard, just expand my problem solving tool-set a little bit.
Doing an amazon search turns up a bunch of books, but I’m hoping you guys can point me to the truly useful resources.
The only language I have any real experience with is Python (a tiny bit of C) so whatever I find needs to be language agnostic or centred around Python/C.
“Art of Computer Programming” by Donald Knuth is a Very Useful Book.