Pseudocode In Chapter 2 of Introduction to Algorithms, the authors introduce pseudocode. Pseudocode is a way to describe algorithms. Pseudocode is not computer code and is not typically concerned with issues of software engineering (e.g., data abstraction, modularity, and error handling). The pseudocode conventions in this book are: Syntax/format: Indentation indicates block structure. The body…
Introduction to Algorithms
What is an algorithms? From chapter 1 of Introduction to Algorithms, an algorithm is any well-defined procedure that transforms a set of input to a set of output with desired properties. It is a tool for solving a computational problem, which specifies the desired input/output relationship. Input → Algorithms → Output The input is organized in a…
Implementing Communication Styles for Effective Discussions
I came across this great article on dev.to titled ‘Communication styles – Working effectively as a team’, which is inspired by this tweet . I recommend reading both sources but I offer a summary below. Then I explain how to use this information to increase effectiveness of most discussions. Communication Styles The two styles of…
Imperative Programming in OCaml
Imperative Vs Functional Programming So far, what I’ve done in OCaml is functional, i.e., I declare functions and the output value of a function depends only on the arguments that are passed to the function. The data structures covered are mostly immutable (not able to change). In contrast, with imperative programming, computations are structured as…
Data Structures in OCaml
In this post I continue going through Chapter 1 of Real World OCaml. I learnt that: Errors may be caught at compile time or at run time. Compile-time errors are preferred to runtime errors, because it’s better to catch errors as early as possible in the development process. An e.g. of a compile-time error is…
Moving on to Real World OCaml
After finishing the first 4 chapters of OCaml from the very beginning, I feel I am ready to move on to other learning resources that assume more programming background. After all, I can write the Fizzbuzz test now, right? Real World OCaml and the OCaml tutorials also have the advantage of being more up to…
Learning About Lists in OCaml
In Chapter 4 of OCaml from the very beginning, I learned about lists: A list is a collection of elements of the same type. The type of the list is (the type of the element(s)) list E.g., a list of integers has the type int list. To define a list, put the elements in a…
The Fizz Buzz Test in OCaml
I just found out about the Fizz Buzz Test yesterday, and I was so excited about solving it with the minimal OCaml knowledge I have! So I did it! You can find it on my github. While writing this program, I learned that semicolons are helpful markers! You are to separate each expressions with a…
A More Powerful Exponential Function
In this post I describe how I solved the following question (from Chapter 3 of OCaml from the very beginning): Use pattern matching to write a function which, given two numbers x and n, computes x to the power of n. Although the author provided an answer, his function returns a stack overflow error when…
Learning Pattern Matching in OCaml
In Chapter 3 of OCaml from the very beginning, I learned about pattern matching. It can replace the ‘if … then … else …’ construct, and can be easier to read. It also has the advantage that if you haven’t considered all cases in the pattern matching, OCaml will warn you so. Just for this…