I need help with algorithms, how do I improve?

Posted by David Burr on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by David Burr
Published on 2011-02-23T17:37:42Z Indexed on 2011/02/23 23:33 UTC
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algorithm

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learning

I usually do well at figuring out solutions to programming assignments but for some reason, I'm really struggling in my Algorithms class. I'm not failing but I know I can do better.

When I'm confronted with problems like "Divide the array to 2 subarrays so that the sum of each subarray is equal to the other subarray," I feel like my brain won't cooperate and think and I end up not being able to solve it.

Some of the things I'm doing right now to help myself:

reading CLR (1st ed.) -- it takes a lot of time for stuff to sink in and I can't understand most of it
solving some problems -- no matter how much I try, most of the time, I end up googling for the solution before I understand how to solve it

I know that good algorithmic skills are very important because lots of good companies ask these sorts of questions in their interview process so I'm a bit worried right now.

What else can can I do to improve my algorithmic/problem solving skills? Any advice on how to deal with this?

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