15 Best Courses for Data Structures and Algorithms (2024)

Introduction

The world of computer science revolves around data structures and algorithms. They serve as the bedrock for all other parts of computer science and development. This is why firms like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook are on the lookout for programmers who are knowledgeable about data structures and algorithms. Learning DSA could be beneficial whether you are seeking a new job or attempting to improve your skills. To learn how to code, you don’t need to spend loads of money on a college education. This is when online courses come in handy. They are a great source of learning and act as proof of skill during interviews.

You’ve come to the right place if you want to learn about data structures and algorithms. We made an effort for you. We searched through the highest-rated courses on the web and hand-picked 15 of the best to help you become an expert on the most-wanted skill right now.

Best Data Structures and Algorithms Courses (2024)

1. Scaler Academy’s Data Structure and Algorithm Course

Scaler Academy by InterviewBit offers a thoughtfully designed curriculum to make you understand the toughest of DSA concepts easily. Courses are available for all levels-beginners, intermediate, and expert. The curriculum can be optimized to your pace of learning. Projects and assignments at the end of topics help you cement the concepts you have learned. This course will teach you how to become an expert in data structures and algorithms, as well as how to ace product interviews so you can advance in your computer career.

The course covers

• The basics of programming
• Time Complexity
• Arrays
• Strings
• Binary Search
• 2 Pointers, Recursion
• Hashing
• Sorting
• Bit manipulation
• Stack
• Queues
• Linked Lists
• Trees
• Heap
• Greedy Algorithms
• DP (Dynamic Programming)
• Graphs
• Database concepts
• OS, and 
• Computer Networks

Duration: 44 weeks
Eligibility: Anyone who graduated in 2022 can apply
Price: 3.59 lakhs, but your monthly payment might be as low as Rs 8,370 per month with scholarship and EMI choices

Check Out: Scaler Academy’s Data Structure and Algorithm Course

2. Algorithms & Data structures-Part 1 and 2 (Coursera)

This course covers the principles of algorithms and data structures that every serious programmer should know, with a focus on Java implementations and scientific performance analysis. Basic data structures, sorting, and searching strategies are covered in the first section of the course. The second section of the course is dedicated to graph and string processing techniques. This course includes all the features for free. It comes with a certificate when you finish it, but you have to pay for the certificate. 

Topics covered in part 1: 

• Union-find
• Analysis of algorithms
• Stacks and queues
• Elementary sorts
• Merge sort
• Quicksort
• Priority queues
• Elementary symbol tables
• Balanced search trees
• Geometric applications of BSTs
• Hash Tables
• Symbol table application

Duration: 53 hours approx. You can set deadlines according to your schedule.
Level: Intermediate level
Price: Free to enrol

3. Data Structures-University of California San Diego

The common data structures that are utilized in many computational problems are discussed in this online course. You will learn how to implement these data structures in various programming languages and will experience doing so in our programming assignments. This will assist you in understanding what is happening inside a specific built-in implementation of a data structure and what to expect from it. The prerequisite of the course is any object-oriented programming language. You’ll also learn about common applications for these data structures.

Topic covered:

• Basic Data structures (arrays, linked list, stacks, queues)
• Dynamic arrays and amortized analysis
• Priority queues and disjoint sets
• Hash tables
• Binary search trees 

Duration: 25 hours approx. You can set deadlines according to your schedule.
Level: Intermediate level
Price: Free to enroll

4. Data Structures-by NPTEL

This data structure course by NPTEL will teach you-efficient storage mechanisms of data for easy access, to design and implementation of various basic and advanced data structures to introduce various techniques for the representation of the data in the real world, to develop applications using data structures, to teach the concept of protection and management of data, to improve the efficiency of any algorithm by using the suitable data structure.

Topics covered:

• Introduction to List 
• Array and Linked List 
• Stack Implementation using array and linked list – Applications of Stack
• Queue Implementation – Application of Queues
• Trees and Terminologies – Tree Traversals
• In order Traversal-Binary Search Tree – Implementation of Search Algorithm
• AVL Tree Insertion, Deletion
• Graph representation, Shortest Path Algorithm
• Sorting, Heap Techniques, Hashing
• Sorting Algorithms, Divide and Conquer algorithms
• Selection Sort, Brute force sort, Bubble Sort
• Insertion Sort, Quicksort applications
• Prim’s Algorithm, Kruskal’s Algorithm
• Bucket Sorting, Radix Sort, Merge Sort
• Directories and Contiguous allocation, File maintenance
• External Sorting, Cascade Merge Sort
• B + Tree maintenance and efficiency, Construction of B-tree, B+tree insertion and deletion

Duration: 12 weeks
Level: Undergraduate/Postgraduate

5. CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science

CS50x is a Harvard University course that introduces majors and non-majors alike, with or without prior programming experience, to the academic pursuits of computer science and the art of programming. CS50x is an introductory computer science course given by David J. Malan that teaches students:

• How to think algorithmically and solve problems quickly
• Abstraction
• Algorithms
• Data structures
• Encapsulation
• Resource management
• Security
• Software engineering, and
• Web development 

C, Python, SQL, and JavaScript, as well as CSS and HTML, are among the languages available. Real-world domains such as biology, encryption, economics, forensics, and gaming-inspired problem sets are present in this course. CS50, Harvard’s largest course, is the on-campus version of CS50x. A certificate is awarded to students who get an acceptable grade on nine problem sets (programming assignments) and a final project. CS50x is a self-paced course that you can do at your own speed.

Duration: 12 weeks
Level: Introductory
Prerequisites: None

6. Introduction to Algorithms

This open course from MIT provides an introduction to computational problems and mathematical modeling. It goes over the most prevalent algorithms, algorithmic paradigms, and data structures for solving these issues. The focus of the course is on the interaction between algorithms and programming, as well as basic performance measures and analysis approaches for these issues.

What you will learn:

• Introduction to mathematical modeling of computational problems
• Common algorithm
• Algorithm paradigms
• Data structures
• Relationship between algorithms and programming
• Basic performance measures and analysis techniques for these problems.

Duration: Not available
Level: Undergraduate
Prerequisites:  Basic understanding of Python as well as a solid background in discrete mathematics.

7. Data Structures and Algorithms Specialization Program (Coursera)

The University of California, San Diego, and the National Research Institute Higher School of Economics both offer this specialization in algorithms and data structures. Students learn the theory underlying algorithms, implement them in a programming language of their choice, and use them to solve actual problems in this curriculum, which offers a solid blend of theory and practice.

The program is divided into six courses, with the first two covering theory and basic algorithmic techniques before moving on to advanced algorithms and complexity. It includes the following topics:

• Using data structures to solve a variety of problems
• Graph data structure
• Graph-based algorithms
• Algorithms on strings
• Advanced algorithmic concepts like Network flows, linear programming, and NP-complete problems

Duration: 8 months
Level: Intermediate-level course
Prerequisites:  Basic knowledge of any one programming language like C, C++, Java, Python, JavaScript, or Kotlin Is required.

8. Algorithms Specialization by Stanford University

Stanford University offers this Coursera Algorithms speciality. Understanding the fundamentals of algorithms and related data structures is required for serious work in nearly every discipline of computer science. This course introduces learners to algorithms and emphasizes conceptual knowledge rather than diving right into mathematical specifics and low-level implementation. It aids in the development of the participants’ programming and thinking skills, preparing them to pursue serious software engineering, ace technical interviews, and study more sophisticated algorithms topics. 

Topic covered:

• Asymptotic (“Big-oh”) notation
• Sorting and searching algorithms
• Master method for analyzing algorithms
• Quicksort algorithm and its analysis
• Data structures-heaps, balanced search trees, hash tables, bloom filters
• Dijkstra’s shortest-path algorithm
• Breadth-first and depth-first search and its applications
• Greedy algorithms (scheduling, minimum spanning trees, clustering, Huffman codes)
• Dynamic programming (knapsack, sequence alignment, optimal search trees)
• Shortest paths algorithms (Bellman-Ford, Floyd-Warshall, Johnson)
• NP-complete problems and exact and approximation algorithms for them
• Local search algorithms for NP-complete problems

Duration: 4 months
Level: For intermediate-level learners
Prerequisites: Not available

9. Free Algorithms Course by IIT Bombay (edX)

Expert academic members from the reputed IIT Bombay’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering designed this edX Algorithms course. It’s part of the Fundamentals of Computer Science XSeries Program at IIT Bombay, and it teaches students how to structure and use algorithms to solve real-world problems. Students learn how to think about algorithms and how to implement them using the best techniques in this computer science course. The course covers the following topics:

• Sorting algorithms such as quick sort and merge sort
• Searching algorithms
• Median finding
• Order statistics
• Geometric algorithms like Polynomial Multiplication
• String algorithms
• Numerical algorithms
• Matrix Operations, GCD, Pattern Matching, Subsequences, Sweep, and Convex Hull
• Graph algorithms like shortest path and spanning tree

Duration: 6 weeks
Level: Intermediate-level course
Prerequisites: Requires basic knowledge of data structures and their implementation.

10. Data Science Foundations: Data Structures and Algorithms Specialization

Sriram Sankaranarayanan, the top instructor of Coursera, guides you through this advanced specialization. In this course, you will learn to organize, store and process data efficiently using advanced data structures, design algorithms and analyze their complexities in terms of running time and space usage, searching and sorting algorithms, and build applications that support highly efficient algorithms and data structures. This specialization is part of a Master of Science in data science degree from the University of Colorado Boulder. Learners are expected to have knowledge of calculus, Probability theory, and some programming experience in python. The duration of this course is approximately three months.

Skills that you’ll gain:

• Algorithms
• Dynamic Programming
• Greedy algorithms
• Divide and Conquer algorithm
• Randomized algorithms
• Sorting algorithms
• Graphs
• Data structures
• Hash Tables
• Spanning tree
• NP-completeness

Duration: Approximately three months.
Level: Intermediate
Prerequisites:  Learners are expected to have knowledge of calculus, Probability theory, and some programming experience in python.
Price: Free to enroll

11. Advanced-Data Structures-MIT Open courseware

This is a graduate-level course from MIT open courseware. Topics covered include

• Time travel
• Geometry
• Dynamic optimality
• Memory hierarchy
• Hashing 
• Integers
• Dynamic graphs
• Strings
• Succinct

Duration: Not available
Level: Graduate level
Prerequisites: The prerequisite to this course is an undergraduate-level understanding of the design and analysis of algorithms and basic knowledge of data structures.

12. Programming Foundations: Algorithms

Joe Marini, author, and developer, walks you through some of the most popular and effective algorithms for finding and sorting data, working with recursion, and understanding common data structures in this course. He also goes through the performance implications of various algorithms and how to evaluate an algorithm’s performance. The teachings are demonstrated in Python, but they can be applied to any programming language. Topics covered:

• Common data structures (Arrays, Linked List, Stacks, Queues, Hash Tables)
• Recursion
• Sorting
• Searching
• Other Algorithms (Unique filtering with hash tables, Finding max value recursively)

The course costs 1150 rupees and LinkedIn also provides a certificate of completion. The course is self-paced, and any beginner can apply for this course.

13. Python Data Structures

This Python data structures course is part of the University of Michigan’s Python for Everyone Specialization on Coursera. It gives an overview of the Python programming language’s basic data structures. This is one of the most popular courses, with a 4.9 rating and almost half a million students who have already completed it. 12% of the learners who have completed the course got a tangible career. Topics covered:

• Strings
• Installing Python
• List
• Dictionaries
• Tuples

Financial aid is available for this course which takes 19 hours to complete. The good thing about the course is that it is beginner-friendly.

14. Master the Coding Interview: Data Structures + Algorithms

This course is designed for you if you want to work for a great tech business like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, or another company but are terrified by the interview process and code questions. This course covers subjects like non-technical interviews and compensation negotiations, in addition to algorithms. Topics covered are: 

Technical:

• Big O notation
• Data structures:
  • Arrays
    Hash Tables
    Singly Linked Lists
    Doubly Linked Lists
    Queues
    Stacks
    Trees (BST, AVL Trees, Red-Black Trees, Binary Heaps)
    Tries
    Graphs
• Algorithms:
  • Recursion
  • Sorting
  • Searching
  • Tree Traversal
  • Breadth-First Search
  • Depth First Search
  • Dynamic Programming

Non-Technical

• How to get more interviews
• What to do during interviews
• What to do after the interview
• How to answer interview questions
• How to handle offers
• How to negotiate your salary
• How to get a raise

The price of the course is 3499 rupees. You need to have a basic understanding of any programming language for this course. The course consists of 261 20-hour lectures. 

15. Accelerated Computer Science Fundamentals Specialization by the University of Illinois

The University of Illinois offers a Coursera Specialization in fundamental computer science algorithms and data structures. It’s a three-course curriculum created by computer science professor Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider to provide students with a route into computers and data science. Students must write C++ code snippets on a web-based interface in order to complete the program’s coding tasks. Each course also contains two projects in which students write C++ programs to do things like edit photographs, manipulate data structures efficiently, or solve a graph search problem. You will learn:

• Designing and implementing an object-oriented program in C++
• How to analyze time complexity and space required for an algorithm
• Selecting and implementing the best data structures that best use the resources to solve a computational problem.
• To implement and call sophisticated library functions after gaining a solid understanding of object data structures.

The course is flexible, and the learner should be able to write basic programs in any programming language. The duration of the course is 3 months.

Duration: 3 months with a flexible schedule
Level: Intermediate level
Prerequisites: None

Conclusion

There are so many courses available to learn data structures and algorithms, but few of them have the right balance between theory and practice. The courses that we covered in this article give a good mix of these two aspects of computing. They also contain every concept that you would need if someone asked you to code something real-world, out there. Anyway, I think this is enough information for you to make up your mind on which course you should take up next. Choose one of them and get started on your path to working for your dream company!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q.1: Why are Data structures and algorithms important?

Ans: Data structure and algorithms are essential for developers since they show the problem-solving ability of the developer, the skill that recruiters value the most. Programmers with a strong understanding of data structures and algorithms can effortlessly handle data processing, reasoning, and calculations.

Q.2: Can I learn Data Structures and Algorithms in Python?

Ans: Yes, you can learn Data structures and algorithms in Python. 

Q.3: Where Data structures and algorithms are used?

Ans: DSA (Data Structure and Algorithm) is used in every aspect of computer science. Data structures are used to store information, while algorithms are used to solve problems with that data.

Useful Resources

• Array Interview Questions
• Data Structure Interview Questions
• Algorithm Interview Questions

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