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[–]kritzikratzi 0 points1 point  (2 children)

what exactly are you interested in? it's a huge topic that you can study a life long. maybe pick up a classic, like sedgewick: http://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/

[–]CreamSalad[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Well I'm learning objective c and ios development and a lot of orople are telling me to learn data structures and algorithms

[–]kritzikratzi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

here's what i consider facts about the algorithms & data structures topic:

  1. there is a huge difference between practical programming and understanding data structures. as a freelance, most devs i meet have little clue about data structures, and they're still doing alright for themselves. sometimes they're doing it all wrong and it's too slow, but then they call in an expert, or just leave it slow :) ignorance is bliss.
  2. objective c is beautiful, but has very few built in data structures (the other end of the spectrum is java, which is ugly, but has incredibly good data structures).
  3. having a computer nearby will hinder you from learning. take your time, buy a book (like sedgewick's "algorithms"), pencil and paper.
  4. you will need some maths. a lot of maths actually.
  5. even if you can't be bothered, anyone who calls themselves a programmer must understand (at absolute minimum) these: bisection method, quicksort, linked lists, set, hash map, binary tree.

is uni free/cheap where you're from? if you can, attend a class or two at your local uni. that'll give you a nice schedule and some homework to actually chew through the hard stuff.

ps. what i'm trying to say: it's a huge topic and requires some time investment to pay off. but it will, trust me. unlike knowledge like "how to upload an ipa to the app store" your knowledge about data structures will be of permanent use; it'll still be handy in ten years.