DSA & Technical Interview Prep Tracker

An integrated study plan combining the foundational Udemy course "Data Structures and Algorithms using C++" with targeted practice from "Cracking the Coding Interview" and LeetCode. This serves as a refresher from my undergraduate studies in Computer Science at MSU as I look for full-time work. Please take a look at my portfolio!

Project Philosophy

This project is an exercise in understanding data structures and algorithms from first principles. Instead of just using standard library containers, each core data structure is built from scratch in C and C++ to gain a fundamental understanding of its memory layout, performance characteristics, and trade-offs.

Website Purpose

This website serves as a living document to track progress through a structured curriculum, hold myself accountable, and showcase the practical application of the concepts being learned.

C++ Project - Current Tasks

Area	Task	Done
Algorithm	Implement additional sorting algorithms (e.g., Merge Sort, Quick Sort) as methods of the `Array` class.
Project	Set up a simple build system with a Makefile or CMake.

C++ Project - Completed Tasks

Area	Task	Done
C++	Convert `Array` class to a generic template (`Array`) and merge into a header-only library.
C++	Implement Iterators (`begin()`, `end()`) for range-based `for` loop compatibility.
Array	Implement dynamic resizing to handle overflow automatically.
Project	Split monolithic code into `.h` (header) and `.cpp` (source) files.
Testing	Add a simple unit test function to main and set up an XCTest target.
C++	Replace `using namespace std;` with specific `using` declarations for better practice.
Algorithm	Implement and test various duplicate-finding methods (sorted, hashing, brute-force).

Section 1-3: Foundations (Completed)

Section	Topics	Done
1: Introduction	What are Data Structures?, ADT, What is an Algorithm?
2: Recursion	What is Recursion?, Static/Global Variables, Taylor Series, Fibonacci, Tower of Hanoi
3: Arrays Representations	Array ADT, 2D Arrays, Matrices

Section 4 & 5: Arrays and Strings

Resource	Task	Done
Udemy	Array Operations (Display, Add, Insert, Delete, Search, Binary Search)
Udemy	String Ops (Length, Case, Reverse, Palindrome, Duplicates, Anagrams)
CTCI	Read Chapter 1: Arrays and Strings
Leetcode	Two Sum, Valid Anagram, Contains Duplicate, Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters

Section 6: Matrices

Resource	Task	Done
Udemy	Diagonal, Lower/Upper Triangular, Symmetric Matrix representations
CTCI	Review matrix problems in Chapter 1 (e.g., Zero Matrix, Rotate Matrix)
Leetcode	Rotate Image, Set Matrix Zeroes, Spiral Matrix

Section 7: Linked Lists

Resource	Task	Done
Udemy	Singly Linked List (Intro, Display, Search, Insert, Delete, Reverse)
Udemy	Circular Linked List, Doubly Linked List, Merge, Check for Loop
CTCI	Read Chapter 2: Linked Lists
Leetcode	Reverse Linked List, Linked List Cycle, Merge Two Sorted Lists, Remove Nth Node From End

Section 9 & 10: Stacks and Queues

Resource	Task	Done
Udemy	Stack (Array/LL), Parenthesis Matching, Infix to Postfix
Udemy	Queue (Array/Circular/LL), Priority Queues
CTCI	Read Chapter 3: Stacks and Queues
Leetcode	Valid Parentheses, Min Stack, Implement Queue using Stacks

Section 11: Trees

Resource	Task	Done
Udemy	Binary Trees: Creation, Traversals (Preorder, Inorder, Postorder, Level-order), Height & Count
Udemy	Binary Search Trees (BST): Search, Insert, Delete
Udemy	Advanced Trees: AVL Trees (Rotations), Heaps (Insert, Delete, Heap Sort), Trie
CTCI	Read Chapter 4: Trees and Graphs
Leetcode	Maximum Depth of Binary Tree, Invert Binary Tree, Validate Binary Search Tree, Kth Largest Element in an Array (Heap), Implement Trie

Section 12: Hashing

Resource	Task	Done
Udemy	Hashing Intro, Chaining, Linear Probing, Quadratic Probing
CTCI	Review Hash Table applications in Ch 1 (Arrays/Strings) and Ch 2 (Linked Lists)
Leetcode	Group Anagrams, Ransom Note, Design HashMap

Section 13: Sorting Techniques

Resource	Task	Done
Udemy	Basic (Bubble, Insertion, Selection), Advanced (Quick Sort, Merge Sort)
Udemy	Specialized (Count Sort, Radix Sort, Shell Sort)
CTCI	Read Chapter 10: Sorting and Searching
Leetcode	Merge Sorted Array, Sort Colors (Dutch National Flag problem)

Section 14: Graphs

Resource	Task	Done
Udemy	Terminology, Representation, Breadth-First Search (BFS), Depth-First Search (DFS)
Udemy	Spanning Trees (Prim's Algorithm, Kruskal's Algorithm)
CTCI	Review Graph problems in Chapter 4
Leetcode	Number of Islands, Clone Graph, Course Schedule (Topological Sort)