
Skiena's Algorithms Video Lectures - espeed
http://www.algorist.com/
======
zerr
My experience with Algorithms:

1\. I study, fully understand topics, solve some problems.

2\. Time passes, I don't really need most of this knowledge in my real world
engineering.

3\. I forget most of what I've learned.

I've iterated this several times, so I no longer have that motivation to
(again) study algorithms without a real world need... :)

~~~
thewarrior
What's your advice on learning them just well enough to survive whiteboard
interviews ?

~~~
zerr
I'm not interested neither in Competitive programming nor in companies who do
these kind of interviews, so I can't really give you any advice here. Another
advice - just skip over those places. There are tons of companies which don't
do this SV-bubble whiteboard stuff.

~~~
joe563323
This method of interviewing may not be perfect, but i think this is really a
good way to filter the candidates out. Whats your ideal(or near to ideal)
interview would be which can filter the candidates out.

~~~
zerr
It might be more or less suitable for fresh grads. But not for self-taught and
especially not for mid-career professionals. The best interviews I had was
concentrating on discussing previous projects and experience. Paid projects
also could be a good way for some. A very simple fizzbuzz like task can be
used as a first step for contacting - to eliminate CV flood.

------
thallukrish
Mapping the right algorithm to a real world need is lot more difficult as real
world needs always have differences with the problems that the published
algorithms solve. This is my experience. So, I end up most of the time devise
my own method to solve things. When you are hard pressed for time, it is often
difficult to run through books and find the right ones. The mind to read and
understand complex algorithms is often overtaken by the mind to just go and
solve the problem in hand in your own way.

------
justifier
i find these lectures difficult to watch, in the same way i found real
lectures difficult to sit through

it is too raw

a 2 hour video for maybe 20 minutes of actionable content?

youtubers may be mocked for lacking credibility but at least they seek to
develop a skill for editing their content

this(o) is the best source i've found on getting an understanding of the np-
complete problem sphere

this in conjunction with karp's very digestible original paper(i) describing
his process of reduction can help you develop a full understanding of hard
problems

(o)
[http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/orclass/integer/integer.html](http://mat.gsia.cmu.edu/orclass/integer/integer.html)

(i)
[http://cgi.di.uoa.gr/~sgk/teaching/grad/handouts/karp.pdf](http://cgi.di.uoa.gr/~sgk/teaching/grad/handouts/karp.pdf)

------
codegeek
Good to see steve skiena on HN :). From my alma mater stony brook.

~~~
jajaBinks
good to see a fellow seawolf

------
iamcreasy
Thanks for posting this. I was about to read the entire book during the summer
break, but now I would start with these videos instead.

------
dominotw
Thank you for posting this. I am prepping for an interview at google, this is
helpful.

