This one is quite difficult, it sacrifices some readability for cleverness and conciseness. I find Algorithmic Thinking by Zingaro much more approachable but almost as dense.
I think if you always follow the same abbreviations, they'll be readable to you.
Remember, these are throwaway programs; not something that you need to worry about someone else maintaining, or something you need to worry about opening up 5 years later.
I’m a big fan of this book. It’s an equally great algorithms reference and way to prep for coding interviews. I haven’t had one in a while but doubt they’ve changed too much in the last half decade.
is leetcode still a thing in interviews. I personally want it to be. We need to start gatekeeping this profession hard ( this is a hard 180 from my stance for last 2 decades). Also regret contributing and being pro opensource.
Closedsource, credentialism and gatekeeping is my new stance.
I've never been a fan of leetcode and competitive programming because they're diffferent skills than software engineering. That said, if I were mentoring undergrads I would tell them that it's important to practice programming without any tools other than a simple text editor, a terminal, a compiler, and a debugger. Not on leetcode style problems (unless that's what they're into), but preferably building real software. It's like doing scales and sight-reading on the piano. Writing code on a whiteboard is also still a good test of whether someone can reason about code and run it in their head.
Who exactly is it that will be doing the gatekeeping? I have a hard time imagining companies caring much about competitive coding scores, and I’ve certainly never heard of layoffs being decided based on LeetCode performance.
Two decades learning from others, then close the gate. Can’t ding you for inconsistency though. Your contribution to this discussion is consistent with your new ethos. Good luck with your new approach to the world.
Closed source will do squat unless you protect your binaries with some sort of secure enclave encryption scheme. AI can reverse engineer your binaries and deliver a copyright-laundered version in hours or days.
Remember, these are throwaway programs; not something that you need to worry about someone else maintaining, or something you need to worry about opening up 5 years later.
Competitive Programmer's Handbook (2017) [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17605395 - July 2018 (14 comments)
Competitive Programmer's Handbook (2017) [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16952222 - April 2018 (121 comments)
A Competitive Programmer's Handbook - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14115826 - April 2017 (157 comments)
Competitive programmers handbook - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13762408 - March 2017 (2 comments)
I did, nevertheless, learn quite a bit from it. Would recommend to everyone. It's well written.
Closedsource, credentialism and gatekeeping is my new stance.