Before diving into complex problems, ensure you have a solid understanding of the basic building blocks of problem-solving, such as:
- Data Structures: Arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, graphs, hash maps, heaps, tries, etc.
- Algorithms: Sorting algorithms, searching algorithms (binary search, DFS, BFS), dynamic programming, greedy algorithms, backtracking, etc.
- Time and Space Complexity: Learn Big-O notation and practice analyzing the time and space complexity of algorithms.
- Read the problem carefully.
- Understand the problem.
- Identify patterns.
- Think of a working solution.
- Execute the solution.
- Look back.