Chapter 2: Algorithms and Data Structures
In the end, only familiarity with the tools and techniques of the field will provide the right solution for a particular problem, and only a certain amount of experience will provide consistently professional results.
Raymond Fielding, The Technique of Special Effects Cinematography
The study of algorithms and data structures is one of the foundations of computer science, a rich field of elegant techniques and sophisticated mathematical analyses. And it’s more than just fun and games for the theoretically inclined: a good algorithm or data structure might make it possible to solve a problem in seconds that could otherwise take years.
In specialized areas like graphics, databases, parsing, numerical analysis, ...