How can you keep your data structures and algorithms skills up to date?

Learning by example where the data structure matters and offers a value added solution in terms of memory and time helps retain and value the knowledge you build.

- Practising daily and try to use in your regular work. - making notes and keep reading these in every 15 days. - nobody can solve fresh problem before experience it in past .

Consistency is the key here. You need to practice regularly. No need to focus on quantity, I would suggest taking a problem and try to solve that with as many ways you can, no need to focus on time or space complexity in the first place, just try out options, but do it. It's all about prepare your brain to play with all the different techniques you have learned, and it takes time. So, there is no shortcut. One and only option is to play with it regularly.

Consistency is the key. You need to practice regularly. No need to focus on the count of problems solved on leetcode, I would suggest taking a problem and trying to solve that with as many ways you can, no need to focus on time or space complexity in the first place, just try all possible approaches and later on performance optimisations,

According to me below are the points which can help to keep us updated with DSA - Consistency - Whenever you are going to get any work think which data structure and algo can be applied to breakdown the problem into understandable algo - Last but not the least practice is the key whenever you get time from your tight schedule ,solve the problem from any online platform can be from LeetCode, Hackerrank, geekforgeeks etc.

When learning a new Data Structure or Algorithm for the first time, choose depth over breadth. Do some research and learn why this data structure is used, what its tradeoffs are compared to others, and different situations you can use it in. For example, if you're learning about a heap for the first time, before copying down some code that creates a heap, try to understand why its used in the first place. What makes it different than an array? Which situations is it better for? Worse for? This form of learning ensures you understand the context behind a new concept, and so you don't *just* learn it - but rather understand how to use it if the situation ever arises!

Different data structures have different use cases. For example: Graphs are used in social networking websites, trees are used in version controls(git), etc. So, pick one area and find out 2-3 practical applications in them and study thoroughly. This will not only improve your depth but also breadth in data structures and algorithms.

It involves several strategies: Online Courses: Enroll in platforms like Coursera, edX, or Udacity, offering courses on advanced data structures and algorithms. Books: Read authoritative books such as "Introduction to Algorithms" by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein, or "The Algorithm Design Manual" by Skiena. Coding Platforms: Practice regularly on coding platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, and CodeSignal to solve problems and learn new techniques. Research Papers: Stay informed about the latest developments by reading research papers and publications from conferences like SIGMOD, VLDB, and ICALP. Workshops and Webinars: Attend workshops and webinars to learn from experts and gain practical insights into new concepts and applications.

I have applied a Spatial Data Structure in developing a location-based service food delivery app R-trees are used in GIS applications to efficiently store and query geographical data, such as maps, locations, and spatial relationships. They can help optimize network routing algorithms by quickly identifying the nearest neighbors and calculating distances between points. R-trees can efficiently store and manage the locations of restaurants, delivery drivers, and customers. When a customer orders, the B-tree index is applied to search for available delivery drivers near the customer quickly. Flower filters help quickly determine if a particular restaurant's menu is available for delivery in a particular area, saving time on database queries

Try to learn different algorithms. There are lots of area where we need improvements to speed up the algorithms, like we can take sorting as an example. I would prefer to go through different articles on recent research on the algorithms.

One of the ways that can be helpful here is to solve atleast 1 DSA problem everyday. If one is new to DSA, picking a topic and sorting the difficulty level of problems to easy, and then solving them one by one can be an option. Once 20-25 questions around a difficulty level are done, move to next difficulty level. For experienced folks, Leetcode "Problem of the day" is the best place to practice. No hassle to pick the topic or question, just solve the problem, document your learnings and proceed !!

Coding Platforms: Use platforms like LeetCode, HackerRank, and CodeSignal to practice problems of varying difficulty levels. Daily Challenges: Participate in daily coding challenges to build a consistent practice routine and tackle a variety of problems. Competitive Programming: Join contests on sites like Codeforces and TopCoder to test your skills against others and learn new techniques. Project Euler: Solve mathematical and computational problems on Project Euler to enhance your problem-solving and algorithmic thinking. Peer Review: Engage in peer reviews and discussions on forums like Stack Overflow or Reddit to gain different perspectives and improve your solutions. It helps you stay sharp and up-to-date with the latest techniques

I believe solving DSA problems are necessary for professionals to keep your knowledge up to date specially when you already cover all the basics in earlier days. For beginners, strictly NO; do not start solving DSA problems immediately, first make your basics clear and make yourself conceptually strong and then go to coding practices. For experienced and mostly for industry professionals and mostly developers, I would suggest to think critically for DSA based solutions in your daily coding, like can the complexity be improved using other data structures or is the algorithm proper or can i make it better. Ask this questions to yourself daily in your coding and try to find answers technically. This will help you to improve the skill immensely

I would suggest not to think about a competitive programming or clearing an interview. Try to solve a problem with different ways you can and compare the best approach based on time and space complexity. Practice different types of problems and try this out regularly. You don't need to spend couple hours every day, spend an hours or less as per your plan, but do it regularly. That's the key.

Once your basics are clear and you have solved enough ( say 200-300 problems). You have reached a certain level to smartly practice now. What does smarty practicing mean? So, you are now not required to implement every problem you want to solve. You just need to think about the logic of solving the problem and that's it. This will save you tons of your time. Only implement logics which you are unsure of.

Teaching others is the best way and the fastest way to clear your concept. Try to teach your friend, colleague , any junior, students who want to learn and start teaching him. This is the best ever approach to clear concepts

"To teach is to learn twice". Going with this concept, you will most likely remember the concepts for a long period of time. You may also get some new ways of solving a problem.

Mentorship: Mentor junior developers or students, which helps reinforce your own understanding and exposes you to fresh perspectives and questions. Writing: Create blog posts or articles explaining data structures and algorithms, which deepens your knowledge and helps the community. Online Courses: Develop and teach online courses or tutorials on platforms like Udemy, Coursera, or YouTube to share your expertise widely. Workshops: Conduct workshops or coding bootcamps to provide hands-on training and real-time problem-solving sessions. Study Groups: Form or join study groups where you can discuss and teach various concepts, facilitating mutual learning and knowledge exchange. It is a powerful way to solidify your knowledge and stay updated.

I would suggest not to think about a competitive programming or clearing an interview. Just let your brain play around with different techniques you have learned to solve the problem. It's okay to take multiple days to solve a problem, but trust me, it helps if you enjoy it. Take it as solving puzzle game, make fun with it.

Stay Consistent: Allocate dedicated time each week to work on DSA problems. Consistency is key to maintaining and improving your skills.

Consistency is the key. Try to allocate some time to solve at least one problem a day. It is good to choose problems of different topics and difficulties. If you ever encounter a problem that you are not able to solve within one hour, bookmark it for another day. Avoid looking at the solution, ask an experienced developer for help.

Mentoring and Teaching: Teach DSA to others or mentor beginners. Explaining concepts to someone else can reinforce your understanding.

Practising DSA questions. However as you practice , the way you write code for your application (which often don’t require dsa)changes , the way you look at writing code and approach you take .

Learn New Languages: Experiment with different programming languages. Understanding how DSA principles apply in various languages can broaden your perspective.