Day 1-Getting Started with DSA (Striver A2Z Sheet)

Today marks the beginning of my placement preparation journey. I started working through the Striver A2Z 455 DSA sheet in C++. My focus for Day 1 was building a strong foundation in basic programming concepts and pattern problems.

Topics Covered:

• C++ Basics:

  • Data types

  • If-else, switch (including break and default)

  • Loops: while, do-while (ensures at least one execution), and for loop

  • Variable scope (i inside and outside loops)

  • Functions:

    • Void vs return type

    • Parameterised vs non-parameterised

    • Pass by value (copy) vs pass by reference (&)

  • Function optimization: use of break and continue inside loops

• Time and Space Complexity:

  • Big-O Notation

  • 3 Rules of Time Complexity

  • Understanding auxiliary space and input space

• Pattern Programming:

  • Followed the 4-step strategy:

    1. Analyze number of rows (outer loop)

    2. Analyze number of columns (inner loop)

    3. Identify the relation between them. Determine what to print

    4. (Optional) Apply symmetry check

  • Solved 22 pattern problems from the Striver sheet

Theory

No theory topics were covered today. I plan to begin with OS/DBMS/CN theory from Day 2.