Programming

for self-study without the academic context, i'd lean toward "A Common-Sense Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms" by Jay Wengrow over CLRS. it's a lot more approachable and uses multiple languages including Python.

CLRS is the canonical reference but it's dense enough that it can stall beginners. the Wengrow book gets you actually implementing things quickly.

if you're specifically targeting Rust, the rust book has decent coverage of ownership-related patterns that affect which data structures make sense to use there vs other languages.

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7294306M/Introduction_to_Algorithms_Second_Edition

I don't have any experience reading similar books to say if this is a good one, but it was the book we were assigned for class. Algorithms are written in pseudocode. I sometimes use it as a reference.

Introduction to Algorithms / CLRS is what you're looking for. It's language-agnostic.

Depends on what you're doing, programming wise. Structures and Algos is good if you're doing a lot of foundational, ground-up work. But most times (like 90%) you'll just use a library for those structures. If you really, really need a RedBlackTree (you dont), you're probably not going to build it yourself. I mean you can, but it's probably better (and safer) to import a library for it. It's more important to know their use-cases rather than how to build them.

I would argue, that if you're want to learn something functional, I would study up on Design Patterns. Especially for C#.

Structures/Algos are the tools, Patterns are what to build with the tools.

Best book, long term, is probably: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software I have it, use it. It's great as a reference, but it's also very "textbook".

I actually recommend: Game Programming Patterns it covers almost all the same patterns as the above. But, it's written with a functional "game" usecase standpoint, which makes it easier to comprehend and get through.

The course I'm in uses Algorithms (Fourth Edition) by Sedgwick and Wayne^[Theres a book, supplemental video courses, and example implementations: https://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home ], and I consider it pretty good. A large focus is on clear implementations that demonstrate the core parts of each algorithm, without getting bogged down in specialization, which I can appreciate. The book also has very good visualizations (they call them traces) if you learn better visually. The only real downside is it's entirely Java oriented material. But since you're working with C# this probably isn't a deal breaker.

The other recommendation in the thread is Introduction to Algorithms, which I've read chapters of (used as reference) — personally it's ok, definitely more abstract and math heavy, so if that's something you want or appreciate then it's a good option.

There's also The Art of Computer Programming by Knuth, which to me is grad level stuff, very very math heavy, but also brilliant, if you can keep up.