Applied algorithms
Once by the book.
Once for a problem you recognize.
A misspelled name still finds its match. A route bends around a wall. An image gets narrower along a winding path of pixels. Explore the algorithms that make these things possible, the ideas they build on, and the limits of their answers.
Part of the DSA family, starting from a specific problem. Meet the building blocks in Data structures & algorithms →
Four ideas to start with
A few favorites from the catalog: a familiar work problem, a path you can draw, a surprising probability trick, and an image you can watch change. Browse their lesson ideas below.
The same county arrives under three spellings.
Levenshtein distanceThere’s a wall between here and there.
A* pathfindingThe stream keeps going. The sample stays small.
Reservoir samplingMake the picture narrower, one winding cut at a time.
Seam carving
Ready articles Showing lessons that are ready to explore. Choose Drafting articles for works in progress, or All topics for the full catalog.
Text, names, and changes
Find what almost matches, what changed, and where a whole set of words appears.
Routes and connections
Find a way through, connect a whole network, or follow how influence flows.
Matching and making choices
Make the objective explicit: total cost, stable preferences, or value within a limit.
Chance and live data
Shuffle fairly, sample by weight, and summarize data that keeps arriving.
Images, maps, and geometry
Make each decision visible in a line, a handful of pixels, or a changing image.
Smaller data, steadier systems
Spend fewer bits, place keys predictably, and control how quickly work is admitted.