Final Remarks

Here’s a quick summary of what we learned from the “Two Pointers & Co.” module.

Congratulations! You have successfully completed the “Two Pointers & Co.” module.

Summary#

In this module, we’ve built a solid foundation for tackling various coding problems. We started by revisiting fundamental programming skills through the warming up problems, emphasizing the importance of careful problem analysis because sometimes spotting hidden details and special rules can be game-changing. Equipped with these essential skills, we explored three powerful problem-solving patterns: Two Pointers, Fast and Slow Pointers, and Modified Binary Search. Two Pointers and Modified Binary Search have shown us the magic of divide-and-conquer, allowing us to efficiently shrink the search space and solve a range of linear data problems. Fast and Slow Pointers, a closely related technique, adds an intriguing twist by moving through input data at different speeds. We learned how these patterns can optimize array operations and handle linked list cycles. These topics serve as a stepping stone to tackling more complex coding challenges. By mastering these patterns and approaches, we’re well on our way to becoming more versatile and effective programmers.

Additional resources#

If you’re looking for more challenges to solve using the patterns in this module, you can hone your skills on these problems:

Pattern Name

Problem Name

Two Pointers

Two Pointers

Fast and Slow Pointers

Fast and Slow Pointers

Fast and Slow Pointers

Fast and Slow pointers

Modified Binary Search

Modified Binary Search

Modified Binary Search

What’s next?#

Now that we have gained hands-on experience with efficient search and traversal techniques, we will cover problem-solving using linked lists, stacks, and matrices in the next module, “Basic Data Structures.”

Solution: Binary Search

Basic Data Structures