DSA Turtle

DSA Turtles

A programmer's notebook on Data Structures and Algorithms. Documenting the path from confusion to clarity.

0.1 // Why am I writing this?

For the longest time, Data Structures and Algorithms felt like a black box to me. I would stare at LeetCode problems, completely blanking out, or memorize solutions without truly understanding the why.

This “book” is my attempt to change that. It’s not just a textbook; it’s a collection of my personal notes, the patterns I’ve discovered, and the strategies that finally made things click.

0.2 // My Learning Path

I didn’t learn everything at once. I took it one step at a time, building my mental models layer by layer.

🧠 The Mindset Shift

How I learned to love problem-solving and stop fearing the interview.

📦 Arrays: Foundation

Mastering Two Pointers, Sliding Windows, and essential techniques.

🧵 Strings: Patterns

Unraveling Anagrams, Palindromes, and pattern matching.

🔗 Linked Lists

Connecting the dots and understanding pointers.

🥞 Stacks & Queues

Controlling flow with LIFO and FIFO structures.

🌳 Trees: Branching

Recursion, traversals, and hierarchical data models.

🕸️ Graphs: Network

BFS, DFS, and modeling real-world connections.

🔍 Sorting & Searching

Finding order in chaos. Binary search and merge sort.

💡 Dynamic Programming

Breaking complex problems down. The beast finally tamed!

0.3 // How I Use These Notes

Instead of dry theory, I focus on:

• Intuition over Rigor: Understanding how it works > proving it mathematically.
• Visuals: Diagrams because code can be hard to read.
• Patterns: Common templates that solve multiple problems.

Note

Join the Journey: This is a living document. As I learn new things, I’ll add them here.

author = "Ann Naser Nabil";

published = 2025;

status = "learning";