Formation Week 11 (Week 29 of tech journey!) Two Pointers and Sliding Window

I found my groove... LeetCode released a Data Structures and Algorithms crash course, that was much needed from my eyes! It gives me structured learning and practice with these concepts and algorithms. I started it last week, so far, I have learned about Two Pointers approach and also Sliding Window. We used this approaches solving Array and Strings problem. Now, I have already passed my Arrays assessment with Formation, but, I did not know about these two approaches, I am not even sure what I did to solve the Arrays problems on Formations code assessment! This reminds me, to take my time and make sure I can learn as much as I can about a particular data structure. The two pointer approach uses two pointers that can scan through an array and give you amazing results with reasonable time and space complexity. The sliding window, I worked on for most of my Friday night, is another very cool technique to use when iterating through strings and arrays. I will move on to Linked List next, and then I will move onto Hash Tables. I am anxious to move on to Hash Tables, becuase once I get comfortable with the concept, I would feel more confident tackling my problems on Formation. Linked List will also be easier to work through on Formation, because LeetCode teaches that right after arrays, whereas Formation challenges us with Hash Tables and then Linked List. The order matters, in my opinion, at least for me. I think that if certain difficult concepts are structured with order, they can become a lot more easier to learn. My son Elijah has a football game today at 12:30, they did not play under the normal Friday night lights becuase their new football field is not completed. Therefore, the game is today at 12:30! After the game, I will hop on LeetCode for most of the day and keep learning. I've become addicted to the way they set up this course, it's really been beneficial to me. In Formation, I experienced a fellow who dropped out, I am not sure why she gave up, but I felt bad, I wanted to help her finish through, but it happens a lot, this coding life is not for anyone, and it's not easy! However, I do believe if you stick with it and never give up, you CAN DO IT! Formation's Daniel Tomjko reached out to me on MatterMost to see what they could do to help me, maybe because I am moving so slow in my progress? Or maybe because it's legit curiousity or desire to help fellows? Either way, I think that was awesome that I could voice my opinion to him and give him some insight as to what I see in Formation. Formation is always committed to improving what they do, and I think that is the TOP BUSINESS principal for sucess. Listening to the user complaints, will help your business model grow efficiently! I remember reading that in a book, Bill Gates would read every bad comment that Microsoft received, and then he would try to solve these issues, so the user is pleased! Salute to Formation! Honestly, I have no problem with Formation, and I love it! They could teach you a little more, or guide you a little better? But for it to be a newer project, with really awesome people, I am optimistic they will grow and become one of the top notch Fellowships in the game, if they aren't already. I've actually been seeing other Fellowships lately, at first I thought Formation was the only one, then I found one that was created by some Google engineers, kind of similar to Formation created by Meta engineers. Guess it's a new thing going on in SF? Or I am more than likely late to the party! Anyways, I hope everyone has a good weekend! I will post about my learnings more and more! I also am taking an Intro to Systems Operations course on Udacity as well as a Front End Frameworks course!

LeetCode DSA Crash Course