Milestone 8: Dynamic Programming

🟦 Milestone 8: Dynamic Programming

Dynamic Programming (DP) is the art of solving complex problems by breaking them down into simpler, overlapping subproblems. It is the “Ultimate Weapon” of the coding interview.

📚 Slow-Paced Deep Dives (University Modules)

• Module 1: Top-Down DP (The Lazy Memory): DSA-401. Recursion + Memoization.
• Module 2: Bottom-Up DP (The Building Blocks): DSA-402. Tabulation and filling in a 1D/2D grid.

🥅 Milestone Goals

1. Identify the Recursive Substructure of a problem.
2. Spot Overlapping Subproblems that can be cached.
3. Contrast Top-Down (Recursive) vs Bottom-Up (Iterative) DP.
4. Solve the 0/1 Knapsack and Coin Change problems.

:::tip Success Tip Don’t be intimidated by the name. “Dynamic Programming” was just a fancy name invented to get funding from the government. It should really be called “Smart Caching”! :::