jamiebuilds/itsy-bitsy-data-structures

★ 8,578JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5LicenseSetup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What It Does
      Teach data structures
      Build mental models
      Shared vocabulary
    Data Structures Covered
      Linked lists
      Hash tables
      Trees and graphs
    How To Use
      No install needed
      Read in editor
      Follow comments
    Audience
      Self-taught coders
      Bootcamp students
      Interview preppers

mindmap root((repo)) What It Does Teach data structures Build mental models Shared vocabulary Data Structures Covered Linked lists Hash tables Trees and graphs How To Use No install needed Read in editor Follow comments Audience Self-taught coders Bootcamp students Interview preppers

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Study common data structures before a technical job interview using plain JavaScript examples instead of dense theory

USE CASE 2

Learn what a hash table or binary tree actually is by reading working code with guided explanations

USE CASE 3

Use it as a teaching resource in a coding bootcamp or self-study course for programmers without a CS background

USE CASE 4

Build your own data structure implementation by adapting the simplified examples as a clean starting point

Tech stack

JavaScript

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Free to use, share, and adapt for any purpose, including commercially, as long as you credit the original author.

In plain English

Itsy Bitsy Data Structures is a single JavaScript file that walks through simplified implementations of common data structures. The purpose is educational: you read through the file, which is written in plain, easy-to-follow JavaScript, and by the end you understand what each data structure is, when you would use it, and how to talk about it with other programmers. The project is aimed at people who have some programming experience but have not studied computer science formally, or who find data structures intimidating because of how they are usually taught. Rather than going deep into theory or performance analysis, it focuses on giving you a mental model and a shared vocabulary. The author describes it as a high-level pass over the key things you need to know before going deeper. The companion repository to this one is The Super Tiny Compiler, another guided code walkthrough by the same author, which takes a similar approach to explaining compilers. There is no package to install, no build step, and no dependencies. The entire project is that one JavaScript file with guided comments. You read it in your editor or on GitHub. The README is intentionally brief and points you directly to the file. The README notes that additional inline annotations were planned at the time of writing to make the material clearer for readers who find the initial pass confusing. The project is licensed under Creative Commons BY 4.0, which allows sharing and adaptation as long as you give credit to the original author.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Using the linked list pattern from itsy-bitsy-data-structures, help me implement a doubly linked list with insert, delete, and search methods in JavaScript

Prompt 2

Based on the hash table explained in itsy-bitsy-data-structures, write a JavaScript class that handles hash collisions using chaining

Prompt 3

Explain the difference between a stack and a queue the way itsy-bitsy-data-structures does, then show me a real-world example of when to use each

Prompt 4

Help me implement a binary search tree with insert, search, and in-order traversal methods in the simple readable style of itsy-bitsy-data-structures

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