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Best Algorithms & data structures videos, as recommended on Hacker News

56 videos about algorithms & data structures that Hacker News commenters keep recommending, mentioned between 2009 and 2026. Mostly talk, explainer, demo. Channels that come up most: CppCon, Google TechTalks, Dyalog, InfoQ. Sorted by how consistently HN recommended them over the years.

The most recommended is CppCon 2017: Matt Kulukundis “Designing a Fast, Efficient, Cache-friendly Hash Table, Step by Step”: HN repeatedly cites it as the definitive explanation of SwissTable, the design behind Abseil, Rust's hash map and Go's maps.

• talkCppCon 2017: Matt Kulukundis “Designing a Fast, Efficient, Cache-friendly Hash Table, Step by Step”CppCon · 9 HN recommenders · 2018–2026
• explainerThe Fast Fourier Transform (FFT): Most Ingenious Algorithm Ever?Reducible · 7 HN recommenders · 2021–2026
• talkModern Dictionaries by Raymond HettingerSF Python · 9 HN recommenders · 2016–2025
• talkCppCon 2014: Chandler Carruth "Efficiency with Algorithms, Performance with Data Structures"CppCon · 7 HN recommenders · 2014–2024
• talkCppCon 2017: Juan Pedro Bolivar Puente “Postmodern immutable data structures”CppCon · 5 HN recommenders · 2017–2025
• talkSorting Algorithms: Speed Is Found In The Minds of People - Andrei Alexandrescu - CppCon 2019CppCon · 7 HN recommenders · 2019–2024
• explainerThe Fastest Way to Board a Plane Feels Like the SlowestCGP Grey · 9 HN recommenders · 2020–2023
• explainer30 Weird Chess Algorithms: Elo Worldsuckerpinch · 8 HN recommenders · 2019–2026
• demoRobust-first computing: Demon Horde Sort (full version)Dave Ackley · 3 HN recommenders · 2015–2023
• lectureStanford Lecture: Don Knuth—"A Conjecture That Had To Be True" (2017)Stanford Online · 1 HN recommender · 2017–2023
• demoA Sudoku Solver in APLDyalog · 4 HN recommenders · 2015–2022
• talkAdvanced Topics in Programming Languages: A Lock-Free Hash TableGoogleTalksArchive · 4 HN recommenders · 2013–2024
• documentaryDisney's FastPass: A Complicated HistoryDefunctland · 7 HN recommenders · 2021–2024
• talkReact.js Conf 2015 - Immutable Data and ReactMeta Developers · 5 HN recommenders · 2015–2022
• talkCRDTs and the Quest for Distributed ConsistencyInfoQ · 3 HN recommenders · 2018–2020
• talkdotJS 2019 - James Long - CRDTs for Mortalsdotconferences · 3 HN recommenders · 2020–2023
• tutorialDepth-first search in APLDyalog · 2 HN recommenders · 2019–2021
• talkFour Solutions to a Trivial Problem - Guy Steele Jr.Google TechTalks · 4 HN recommenders · 2017–2023
• talkMark DiMarco: User Interface Algorithms [JSConf2014]JSConf · 4 HN recommenders · 2014–2018
• lectureLecture 19: Dynamic Programming I: Fibonacci, Shortest PathsMIT OpenCourseWare · 4 HN recommenders · 2016–2021
• demoHow to: Work at Google — Example Coding/Engineering InterviewLife at Google · 2 HN recommenders · 2017–2020
• tutorialBlockchain 101 - A Visual DemoAnders Brownworth · 3 HN recommenders · 2017–2025
• demo15 Sorting Algorithms in 6 MinutesTimo Bingmann · 4 HN recommenders · 2014–2023
• explainerThe Most Underrated AlgorithmVeritasium · 5 HN recommenders · 2022–2024
• talkCppCon 2015: Sean Parent "Better Code: Data Structures"CppCon · 3 HN recommenders · 2016–2021
• talkLower Latency Graph Queries in Cypher with Redis GraphRoi Lipman, Redis LabsTim Davis, Texas A&M URedis · 3 HN recommenders · 2018–2023
• explainerSuperpositions, Sudoku, the Wave Function Collapse algorithm.Martin Donald · 3 HN recommenders · 2021–2022
• talkStephan T. Lavavej “Floating-Point ＜charconv＞: Making Your Code 10x Faster With C++17's Final Boss”CppCon · 3 HN recommenders · 2020–2022
• explainerWhat P vs NP is actually aboutPolylog · 4 HN recommenders · 2024–2026
• talkWhat is in a Lucene index? Adrien Grand, Software Engineer, ElasticsearchLuceneSolrRevolution · 3 HN recommenders · 2019–2020
• explainerFast Inverse Square Root — A Quake III AlgorithmNemean · 3 HN recommenders · 2021–2022
• talkCRDTs: The Hard PartsMartin Kleppmann · 3 HN recommenders · 2020–2024
• lecture17. Succinct Structures IMIT OpenCourseWare · 3 HN recommenders · 2018–2022
• demoInfinite Mario AI - Long LevelRobin Baumgarten · 3 HN recommenders · 2009–2012
• talkBryan Cantrill on ARC: A Self-Tuning, Low Overhead Replacement Cache [PWL SF] 10/2017PapersWeLove · 3 HN recommenders · 2019–2024
• explainerAlgorithmic Redistricting: Elections made-to-orderAlphaPhoenix · 2 HN recommenders · 2023–2025
• talkDifferential SynchronizationGoogle TechTalks · 3 HN recommenders · 2012–2020
• explainerI Solved Klotski2swap · 3 HN recommenders · 2025–2026
• talkHigh-performance Tree Wrangling, the APL Way // Aaron Hsu // Dyalog '18Dyalog User Meetings · 3 HN recommenders · 2019–2021
• talkParsing JSON Really Quickly: Lessons LearnedInfoQ · 3 HN recommenders · 2020–2026
• demoQuick-sort with Hungarian (Küküllőmenti legényes) folk danceAlgoRythmics · 2 HN recommenders · 2013–2021
• podcastDonald Knuth: Algorithms, Complexity, and The Art of Computer Programming | Lex Fridman Podcast #62Lex Fridman · 2 HN recommenders · 2020–2023
• talkAbseil's Open Source Hashtables: 2 Years In - Matt Kulukundis - CppCon 2019CppCon · 1 HN recommender · 2021–2026
• talkC++Now 2018: You Can Do Better than std::unordered_map: New Improvements to Hash Table PerformanceCppNow · 2 HN recommenders · 2021–2024
• demoWho's faster around London: a taxi driver or a GPS?Tom Scott plus · 2 HN recommenders · 2022–2026
• talkThree Beautiful QuicksortsGoogle TechTalks · 2 HN recommenders · 2010–2023
• talkBetrFS: A Right-Optimized Write-Optimized File SystemMicrosoft Research · 2 HN recommenders · 2016–2023
• explainerThe Josephus Problem - NumberphileNumberphile · 2 HN recommenders · 2018–2022
• explainerSolving Wordle using information theory3Blue1Brown · 2 HN recommenders · 2022–2024
• talk'Fastware' - Andrei Alexandrescu [ ACCU 2016 ]ACCU Conference · 1 HN recommender · 2016–2021
• talkSuccinct Data StructuresEdward Kmett · 1 HN recommender · 2017–2025
• musicFind the Longest Pathswitchbg · 1 HN recommender · 2021–2026
• talkH3: Tiling the Earth with HexagonsUber Engineering · 1 HN recommender · 2018–2025
• explainerSomeone improved my code by 40,832,277,770%Stand-up Maths · 1 HN recommender · 2022–2023
• demoSORTDEMO.BASfragglet · 1 HN recommender · 2019–2023
• talkCppCon 2016: Chandler Carruth “High Performance Code 201: Hybrid Data Structures"CppCon · 1 HN recommender · 2016–2021