Visualized DSA Strategies

Episode 0 The Visual Dictionary

8 min · C#

Episode 0The Visual Dictionary

▶ This video is coming to YouTube soon.

Before we solve a single interview problem, we agree on a language. Every data structure in this course has one shape and one colour: arrays, strings, counters, matrices, hash maps, hash sets, stacks, queues, linked lists and heaps. For each one you'll see what the shape means, how to declare it in C#, and what its operations cost.

What you'll learn

  • How to read pointers, windows and the four highlight colours
  • Arrays, strings, int[26] counters and jagged arrays, and why indexing is O(1)
  • Dictionary vs HashSet: key → value vs membership only
  • Stacks, queues and deques: which end you can touch, and LinkedList as the deque
  • Linked lists and heaps (PriorityQueue), and what makes them different

Chapters

  1. 0:00Intro
  2. 0:18How to read the pictures
  3. 0:59Variable
  4. 1:25Array
  5. 2:00String
  6. 2:45Counter: int[26]
  7. 3:22Matrix: jagged array
  8. 4:06Dictionary
  9. 4:54HashSet
  10. 5:31Stack
  11. 5:59Queue and deque
  12. 6:39Linked list
  13. 7:13Heap (PriorityQueue)
  14. 7:55The whole dictionary