Content created by GDI San Francisco, maintained by GDI Chicago.
What's an algorithm? Besides being the answer to most interview questions, an algorithm is a way to solve a particular problem in programming.
Google Maps uses an algorithm to calculate driving directions through 3 cities while avoiding highways. Amazon uses an algorithm to figure out exactly what product to recommend to you next so that you'll blindly one-click it.
In this workshop, we will discuss what an algorithm is, introduce the idea of algorithmic complexity (big O notation), demonstrate sort and search algorithms (with a hands-on re-enactment), and finish with an overview of the many types of algorithms out there.
This workshop focuses on design-thinking for algorithms, which is a pre-requisite to expressing these ideas in code.
Attendees would benefit from a basic understanding of a programming language, like from JS 101, but that is not required.
• Your laptop, if you'd like to follow along with the slides.
- Big O notation
- Hands-on re-enactment of sort and search
- 10:00 - 10:45 Introduction
- 10:45 - 1:45 Defining an algorithm, time/space complexity, goal of algorithms
- 1:45 - 12:00 break
- 12:00 - 1:00 Sorting and bubble sort
- 1:00 - 2:00 lunch
- 2:00 - 3:15 More sorting, searching
- 3:15 - 3:45 break
- 3:45 - 4:45 More searching, primes
- 4:45 - 5:00 Conclusion