Discover data structures and algorithms using Python. Gain insights into solving real-world problems and typical interview questions with detailed reviews, explanations, and hands-on coding exercises.

Data structures and algorithms are among the most fundamental concepts of Computer Science. Whether it’s real-world problems you’re trying to solve or the typical coding question asked in an interview, almost every problem requires you to demonstrate a deep understanding of data structures and algorithms. 

This course is a detailed review of some of the most common data structures and algorithms that you’ll see in interviews and your everyday work. With implementation details, thorough explanations, and hands-on coding exercises, you’ll quickly gain the confidence you need to solve any problem, no matter the situation.

Data Structures and Algorithms in Python

In this lesson, we're going to determine whether or not a set of brackets are balanced or not by making use of the stack data structure that we defined in the previous lesson. 

Let's first understand what a balanced set of brackets looks like. 
   
A balanced set of brackets is
one where the number and type of opening and closing brackets match and that is also properly nested within the string of brackets. 


# Examples of Balanced Brackets
* { }
* { } { } 
* ( ( { [ ] } ) )
# Examples of Unbalanced Brackets
* ( ( ) 
* { { { ) } ]
* [ ] [ ] ] ]

# Algorithm

Check out the slides below to have a look at the approach we'll use to solve this problem:

As shown above, our algorithm is as follows:
* We iterate through the characters of the string.
* If we get an opening bracket, push it onto the stack. 
* If we encounter a closing bracket, pop off an element from the stack and match it with the closing bracket. If it is an opening bracket and of the same type as the closing bracket, we conclude it is a successful match and move on. If it's not, we will conclude that the set of brackets is not balanced. 
* The stack will be empty at the end of iteration for a balanced example of brackets while we'll be left with some elements in the stack for an unbalanced example. 

This lesson will teach us how to determine whether or not a string has balanced usage of brackets by using a stack. 

Introduction

Stack

Singly Linked Lists

Circular Linked Lists

Doubly Linked Lists

Arrays

Binary Trees

Binary Search Trees

Binary Search

Recursion

String Processing

Determine if Brackets are Balanced

Examples of Balanced Brackets

Examples of Unbalanced Brackets

Algorithm