Algorithms are the heart and soul of computer science. Their applications range from network routing and computational genomics to public-key cryptography and machine learning. Studying algorithms can make you a better programmer, a clearer thinker, and a master of technical interviews. Algorithms Illuminated is an accessible introduction to the subject for anyone with at least a little programming experience. The exposition emphasizes the big picture and conceptual understanding over low-level implementation and mathematical details---like a transcript of what an expert algorithms tutor would say over a series of one-on-one lessons. The book includes solutions to all quizzes and selected problems, and a series of YouTube videos by the author accompanies the book. Part 2 of this book series covers graph search and its applications, shortest-path algorithms, and the applications and implementation of several data structures: heaps, search trees, hash tables, and bloom filters.

Tim Roughgarden is a Professor of Computer Science and (by courtesy) Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University, where he has taught and researched algorithms since 2004. This book is the second of a four-part series based on his online algorithms courses that have been running regularly since 2012.