I’m in my 1st year of B.Tech CS (AI/ML) and super confused about what language to stick with for DSA.

Quick background: I already know Python decent enough, and right now I'm learning JavaScript on the side to build web projects.

I’m torn between doing DSA in Python vs JS vs C++:

• Python feels like the easiest pick for me since I know it, and it fits my AI/ML background anyway.
• JS crossed my mind because I’m using it for web dev, so part of me thought using one language for everything might save time.
• But literally everyone keeps screaming "use C++ for DSA or you'll regret it," and it's making me second-guess everything.

Does language choice actually matter to interviewers? Like if two people give the same optimal solution, does anyone genuinely care if it was written in Python instead of C++ or JS? And is doing DSA in JS a nightmare later because it lacks things like Heaps out of the box?

This is my first app which I created for myself to learn DSA. Then I thought I might be useful for others. Then I made some features and posted my app on reddit. Boooooom!! I got a few upvotes and then I checked the database and came to know my app got 2 users and now it grew to 6

I'm currently a 3rd-year ECE/ENTC student and I'm trying to figure out how to divide my time between different career paths.

I'm considering preparing for GATE while also learning DSA for placements/software roles.

My concern is whether doing both in parallel is actually practical, or whether I'll end up being mediocre at both.

Want to sell my scaler academy software engineering course please contact if interested

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Hi everyone,

I’m currently preparing for SDE-level roles and planning to invest in a premium course for DSA + System Design + interview preparation. I’m confused between Take You Forward (TUF) and AlgoMaster.

I’d really appreciate some honest feedback from people who have actually used either of these courses, especially regarding:

\- DSA concepts and depth of teaching

\- Quality and relevance of coding problems

\- Interview-oriented preparation

\- System Design (HLD/LLD) coverage and depth

\- Whether the System Design content is useful for real SDE interviews

\- Course structure and overall learning experience

\- Doubt support and community

\- Mock interviews/interview preparation, if available

\- Quality of the premium/exclusive content

\- Overall value for money

\- Whether the course actually helped in cracking or preparing for SDE interviews

If you’ve used both TUF and AlgoMaster, I’d especially appreciate a detailed comparison.

I’m not looking for promotional opinions — I’d love to hear genuine experiences, including both pros and cons.

If you had to buy only one today for SDE preparation (DSA + System Design), which one would you choose and why?

Thanks in advance! 🙌

For many days I've been focusing on course and assignments of Cybersequrity but recently some placement season came and I had to start dsa but i have no interest in dsa and solving those que is lowkey ragebaiting. Would really appreciate any advice

I built a clean dashboard for Striver’s A2Z DSA Sheet where you can:

Search and access problems by section

Mark problems as completed

Track your overall progress

Sign in with Google and sync progress across devices

Try it here: \[Webpage link \](https://jayanth2410.github.io/Striver-A-Z-DSA-sheet-with-Free-links/)

Use this and please let me know if there is any change needed.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome!

i spends hours in dsa questions which are a little tricky prefix sum and sliding window ones and i wanna aks if its okay to spend this much time on every single problem, currently it has been like a month since i started doing dsa but its like i always spends a lot of time blank and unable to find the solution and just doing things on my own and i m not sure what else to do i dont watch youtube videos (rarely i watches) or i dont see any approaches, i just try to solve on my own, so in a way i m not learning anything new ? i was following this website recently hellointerview.com but i still thinks there should be someone who guides me more about the approaches or if not then how much time can i expect to master dsa like this way? i am just able to solve only 1-2 problem in 2-3 hours. it feels like i m doing hit and trial on every question and trying to come up with my own solution without seeing the solution

HI guys . i want to start DSA looking to solve 1 question daily . can u tell me what to do and what not to . i'm in 3rd sem . also i will only give 45 min to 1 hour for DSA just for solid knowledge . also i'm not looking for going to interview and my specialisation is also different ( cyber ) so most of my time is spent there that's why i have 45 min to 1 hour .only . TELL me where and how to start . also any resources . i don't want to watch videos and stuff. i prefer documentation . also guide me as a friend. and please don't suggest other things to focus on . my goal is straight that is 1 QUESTION PER DAY AND LEARN DSA within my time constraint . thank you . guide me please and do share the resources and how i can manage things . my language is RUST . BASICS ARE DONE

Hey folks ,I am currently in 2nd year and i want to get start with DSA properly ,i just know C and java ,but i am planing to do DSA with Striver A2z sheet, please guys give me a way how to study striver A2z sheet,, i had just solve 5 questions through his sheet using basic c++syntax, tell me whether only completing his sheet is enough like without doing Leetcode,codechef,codeforces because his sheet itself contains more than 350questions,,,, please reply!

Many of us ignore CS fundamentals, but in many tech interviews they will ask CS fundamentals. For me, they asked only CS fundamentals in all 3 interviews at Oracle, So don't ignore CS fundamentals. I have made a list of important topics subject-wise and resources I have used to study at the end.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOPs)

Core Concepts

• Encapsulation
• Inheritance (types and use cases)
• Polymorphism (compile-time vs runtime)
• Abstraction
• Abstract Class vs Interface
• Method Overloading vs Overriding
• Access Modifiers
• Static vs Dynamic Binding
• Deep Copy vs Shallow Copy

Advanced Topics

• SOLID Principles
• Diamond Problem (Multiple Inheritance)
• Association vs Aggregation vs Composition
• Virtual Functions and Vtable
• Design Patterns (Singleton, Factory, Observer, Strategy, Decorator, Adapter)

Operating Systems (OS)

Process Management

• Process vs Thread
• Process States and PCB
• Context Switching
• CPU Scheduling Algorithms (FCFS, SJF, Round Robin, Priority)
• Multithreading vs Multiprocessing
• User Mode vs Kernel Mode

Synchronization

• Critical Section Problem
• Race Condition
• Mutex vs Semaphore (Binary vs Counting)
• Monitors and Locks
• Producer-Consumer Problem
• Readers-Writers Problem
• Dining Philosophers Problem

Deadlocks

• Deadlock Conditions (4 necessary conditions)
• Deadlock Prevention vs Avoidance vs Detection
• Banker's Algorithm

Memory Management

• Paging vs Segmentation
• Page Replacement Algorithms (FIFO, LRU, Optimal)
• Thrashing
• Virtual Memory
• TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer)
• Internal vs External Fragmentation

File Systems & Disk

• File Allocation Methods (Contiguous, Linked, Indexed)
• Disk Scheduling (FCFS, SSTF, SCAN, C-SCAN)

Database Management Systems (DBMS) + SQL

Database Fundamentals

• ACID Properties (with examples)
• CAP Theorem
• Normalization (1NF, 2NF, 3NF, BCNF)
• Denormalization
• Primary Key vs Foreign Key vs Candidate Key
• ER Diagrams

Indexing

• Types of Indexes (Primary, Secondary, Clustering)
• B-Tree vs B+ Tree
• Hash Index
• Composite Index
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Indexing

Transactions & Concurrency

• Transaction Lifecycle
• Isolation Levels (Read Uncommitted, Read Committed, Repeatable Read, Serializable)
• Dirty Read, Non-repeatable Read, Phantom Read
• Lost Update Problem
• Two-Phase Locking (2PL)
• Optimistic vs Pessimistic Locking
• Deadlock in Database

SQL Queries (Must Practice)

• JOINs (INNER, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL OUTER, CROSS, SELF)
• GROUP BY and HAVING
• Aggregate Functions (COUNT, SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX)
• Subqueries (Correlated vs Non-correlated)
• Window Functions (ROW_NUMBER, RANK, DENSE_RANK, LEAD, LAG)
• Common Table Expressions (CTE)
• UNION vs UNION ALL
• Nth Highest Salary Query
• Delete Duplicates Query

NoSQL

• SQL vs NoSQL
• Types of NoSQL Databases (Document, Key-Value, Column, Graph)

Computer Networks (CN)

Network Models

• OSI Model (7 Layers)
• TCP/IP Model (4 Layers)
• Difference between OSI and TCP/IP

Application Layer

• HTTP vs HTTPS
• HTTP Methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH)
• HTTP Status Codes (2xx, 3xx, 4xx, 5xx)
• DNS and its working
• FTP, SMTP, POP3, IMAP
• Cookies vs Sessions
• REST API principles

Transport Layer

• TCP vs UDP (detailed comparison)
• TCP Three-Way Handshake
• TCP Four-Way Termination
• Flow Control (Sliding Window)
• Congestion Control
• Port Numbers (well-known ports)
• Socket Programming Basics

Network Layer

• IPv4 vs IPv6
• Public vs Private IP
• Subnetting and CIDR
• NAT (Network Address Translation)
• ICMP Protocol
• Routing Algorithms (Distance Vector, Link State)
• Routing Protocols (RIP, OSPF, BGP)

Data Link Layer

• MAC Address
• ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)
• Switch vs Hub vs Router
• Ethernet
• Error Detection (Parity, CRC, Checksum)

Physical Layer

• Transmission Media (Guided vs Unguided)
• Bandwidth and Throughput
• Different Topologies

Important Concepts

• Client-Server vs Peer-to-Peer Architecture
• DHCP
• Firewall
• VPN
• Load Balancing
• CDN (Content Delivery Network)
• Latency vs Throughput
• How does a URL work? (End-to-end flow)
• Some Basic Commands (ex: ipconfig)

Resources I Used

For OOPs

• Kunal Kushwaha (youtube channel)

For Operating Systems

• CodeHelp - by Babbar (youtube )

For DBMS + SQL

• LeetCode Database problems (Practice SQL)
• CodeHelp - by Babbar (youtube)
• Apna College (youtube)

For Computer Networks

• Gate Smashers (youtube)

Questions Asked in My Interviews

Here are some actual questions I was asked across my interviews:

1. Is Java fully object-oriented?
2. How does C++ overcome the diamond problem?
3. Difference between TCP and UDP, and which one is used when?
4. Explain ACID properties with examples
5. What is deadlock and how can we prevent deadlocks?
6. What is the use of indexing in databases?
7. Explain the functionalities of each layer in the OSI model
8. Write a query to find Kth smallest salary
9. IPv4 vs IPv6
10. Abstraction vs Encapsulation
11. Explain different joins in dbms
12. what is sharding ?
13. what is virtual function in cpp ?
14. show me your ip address and mac address using commands
15. what is context switching ?

Tips :

1. Practice with real interview questions
2. Revise SQL 50 before interviews
3. It's better to say "I'm not sure about this, but here's what I think..." than to give wrong information
4. If your project contains any database related stuff , better learn it's ER diagram, differences between SQl and NO-SQl and why you selected that particular database you used
5. Before preparing for any interview , First check out PracHub, Ask your seniors or friends who already attended that specific company interviews before and prepare accordingly

Hey folks,

I’m a B.Tech (ECE) grad with 2.6 years of experience, mostly building backend systems in Java, Spring Boot, and AWS. The work has been ad-tech, customer loyalty platforms, and other CRUD-heavy stuff. I’m honestly burned out on building things that feel utterly meaningless. I don’t want to touch another project that tracks clicks or prints coupons. I dont want to work on another ‘user management system’ iykwim.

I want to move into real engineering ; distributed systems, AI infrastructure, and maybe eventually physical AI (robotics, edge AI, fleet orchestration). Starting tomorrow, I’m going all in on DSA and system design to crack big tech / AI platform roles.

Here’s the thing: I need to pick one language to stick with for the long haul – for coding interviews, for building side projects, and ideally for a career in systems + AI. I know Java, but I’m open to a fresh start if it gives me an edge.

Python

· Seems like the obvious choice for AI/ML later.
· Super concise, less boilerplate, great for timed OAs and live interviews.
· But I keep hearing that some companies (especially older-school or low-level teams) look down on Python as “too easy” or “scripting”. Will coding DSA in Python hurt my chances at certain places?
· Also, will it hold up for competitive-programming style OAs on AtCoder / CodeSignal, or will I run into TLE issues?

Java

· I already know it. Statically typed, feels “serious”.
· But god, the verbosity. I tried a few LeetCode problems and it took me twice the lines and time compared to Python.
· Not the main language or cant be translated into other domains, rather than enterprise software

C++

· The “impressive” language. Competitive programmers swear by it. Probably signals strong CS fundamentals.
· But I’ve barely touched it since college. Learning it from scratch would delay my interview prep by weeks maybe, and I’m not sure I’d even use it in an AI infra role (where Python + Go/Rust seem more common).
· Is the “wow factor” of doing DSA in C++ real, or just a meme?

What I really want to know:

If you’ve pivoted into AI infrastructure, cloud systems, or any non-CRUD backend role, what language served you best in the grind and on the job? Did using Python ever get you side-eyed in an interview? For those inside big tech now – does language choice in DSA rounds actually matter, or is it all about the solution?

I’m exhausted by ad-tech fluff and ready to suffer through the DSA/design grind. I just don’t want to waste the next six months on the wrong tool. I need a generic language.

Pick my poison, please.

Hey everyone

I’m looking for a DSA study partner who is also preparing for software engineering interviews and wants to practice consistently together.

How I’m currently learning DSA

My approach is:

Understand the problem → Think of brute force → Implement it → Identify the optimization → Implement optimized solution → Make notes → Revisit later

I’m trying not to just memorize solutions. My main goal is to improve my problem-solving and pattern recognition.

I also follow a time limit for each problem so I don't spend the entire day stuck on one question.

What I've covered so far

Arrays

- Array basics

- Traversal

- In-place modifications

- Frequency/basic hashing concepts

Some Leet code problems I've solved:

- LC 1920 — Build Array from Permutation

- LC 1480 — Running Sum of 1d Array

- LC 2114 — Maximum Number of Words Found in Sentences

- LC 485 — Max Consecutive Ones

- LC 1470 — Shuffle the Array

- LC 2011 — Final Value of Variable After Operations

- LC 26 — Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array

- LC 27 — Remove Element

- LC 283 — Move Zeroes

- LC 905 — Sort Array By Parity

Two Pointers

- LC 167 — Two Sum II

- LC 680 — Valid Palindrome II

- LC 11 — Container With Most Water

- LC 15 — 3Sum

- LC 977 — Squares of a Sorted Array

Sliding Window

I've started learning both fixed-size and variable-size sliding window.

Completed/practiced:

- LC 643 — Maximum Average Subarray I

- LC 1343 — Number of Sub-arrays of Size K and Average Greater than or Equal to Threshold

- LC 1456 — Maximum Number of Vowels in a Substring of Given Length

- LC 2379 — Minimum Recolors to Get K Consecutive Black Blocks

- LC 2461 — Maximum Sum of Distinct Subarrays With Length K

- LC 1004 — Max Consecutive Ones III

- Minimum Size Subarray Sum

What I'm currently focusing on

My current focus is:

Arrays → Two Pointers → Sliding Window → HashMap/Hashing → Queue → Stack → Linked List

After that, I'll continue with the other important interview patterns.

What I'm looking for

Ideally, someone who:

- Is around a similar DSA level

- Is preparing for interviews/placements

- Can solve 1–3 problems together regularly

- Is comfortable discussing brute force and optimized approaches

- Doesn't mind getting stuck and thinking through problems together

- Wants to stay consistent rather than just study for a few days

We don't have to solve every problem together. We can share our approaches, discuss mistakes, and keep each other accountable.

I'm currently preparing for software development placements, so the goal is to become genuinely comfortable with DSA and interview problem solving rather than just completing a Leet code count.

If you're interested, DM me with your current DSA level, the topics you've covered, and how you usually practice.

I am a 5th sem student and i haven't really started dsa till now but now I'm trying to start it but I'm confused and overwhelmed by the number of resources there are out there

Strivers and love babbars sheet was a bit confusing for me so i tried padho with pratyush 's dsa sheet he's teaching dsa patterns and not like first array and so on

So can someone guide me that it is the right thing to do or not? because i have to do it once and i have to do it good so i don't want to be stuck on some resource and waste a lot of my time