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Data structures

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Started by Concentrate February 09, 2010 08:27 PM

5 comments, last by Concentrate 14 years, 2 months ago

Concentrate

181

Author

February 09, 2010 08:27 PM

Anyone read any really good data structures book? I checked the reference in gamedev but they are mixed reviewed. It doesn't have to be from any language. But preferably, it would be nice if its in java or C++. I just need to learn the theory. The tool to implement it does not matter. Thanks.

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Sneftel

1,788

February 09, 2010 09:01 PM

Data Structures for Game Programmers is actually fairly good, pandering notwithstanding.

Concentrate

181

Author

February 09, 2010 09:08 PM

Is that book particularly geared towards gaming, or does it have very good
information about most data structures that I should know about? Also why
did you recommend that book?

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Sneftel

1,788

February 09, 2010 09:11 PM

It actually isn't especially geared towards gaming. I mean, the examples tend to be game-driven, but the structures themselves are pretty much the usual, generally useful set. I mention it because it was the first thing that came to mind.

daviangel

604

February 09, 2010 11:51 PM

Quote:Original post by Sneftel
Data Structures for Game Programmers is actually fairly good, pandering notwithstanding.

Ditto.
I'm glad I got this book a couple of years ago before they jacked up the price to like over $100 because it's definitely worth it if you can find a cheap copy!
I referred to it all the time when I was taking a data structures course because it has some of the clearest explanations I've ever seen of how linked lists, hash tables, etc work.
That it shows you how to use all this to make an RPG type game using SDL is just icing on the cake.

A lot less readable but more complete and free book available here. Plus it's in Java or C++ so you pick.

[Edited by - daviangel on February 10, 2010 4:51:54 AM]

[size="2"]Don't talk about writing games, don't write design docs, don't spend your time on web boards. Sit in your house write 20 games when you complete them you will either want to do it the rest of your life or not * Andre Lamothe

Agent_Q

100

February 10, 2010 12:53 AM

"Data Structures for Game Programmers" is definitely a good read for learning data structures (I just read it last month when I was trying to recreate the STL - suffice it to say that didn't go very well, but it was a good learning experience).

If you are learning about graphs (and depending on your language choice) I would also suggest "Programming Game AI by Example" - Chapter 5 in the book arguably has the best implementation of Graph's and Graphing algorithms I've seen yet. Allen Sherrod also had a pretty decent Data Structures book with a good introduction to STL.