Syllabus

CS 302: Advanced Data Structures

Winter 2008

This course continues the exploration of data structures, algorithms for manipulating them, and the practical problems of implementing those structures in real programming languages and environments. Attention is paid to the analysis of algorithms to characterize their worst and average case requirements for running time and memory.

Perhaps more than any other courses, CS 301 and 302 should expand the students tool box of basic techniques for manipulating data at both the conceptual and the concrete level. At the conceptual level, the student will see a broad selection of standard practices and approaches used in program design. At the concrete level, the student will begin what should be a career-long practice of accumulating useful, reusable code units.

The basic organization of this course will proceed through the classic data structures and Java-based containers, exploring the use and implementation of each in turn. Motivating problems will be drawn from a variety of application areas.  Specifically:

95 - 100   A

90 - 94     A-

87 - 89     B+

83 - 86     B

80 - 82     B-

77 - 79     C+

73 - 76     C

70 - 72     C-

67 - 69     D+

63 - 66     D

60 - 62     D-

0  - 59      F

If you must miss an exam, contact your instructor prior to the exam to schedule a time to make it up. Late submission of assignments is generally not accepted. No partial credit for late assignments will be offered.

The slides for lectures can be found in the shared directory on Neve. Be prepared to spend 10 hours for each project.

All work turned in for credit, including exams and all components of the project, are to be the work of the student whose name is on the exam or project. For all project components, the student can receive assistance from individuals other than the instructor only to ascertain the cause of errors. Thus you can get help if you need it to figure out why something doesn't work. You just can't get help from anyone, other than the instructor or TA, to figure out how to make something work. All solutions turned in for credit are to be your individual work and should demonstrate your problem solving skills, not someone else's. The following text should appear on all assignments: " I pledge that I have neither given nor received help from anyone other than the instructor for all program components included here."

Help each other with the lab assignments. You may work together, but do the work on separate computers. The point is to understand the material enough so that you to go on and complete that week's programming assignment on your own.

Help each other understand and debug the programming assignments. However, you should write the code for your programs yourself. Writing it yourself is the only way you will learn. Do not work together to solve the programming assignments to the extent that two programs are essentially the same solution.

All program solutions turned in for credit are to be your individual work and should demonstrate your problem solving skills, not someone else's. Since everyone is writing their own code, no two programs should be the same or so similar that I could convert one to the other by a simple mechanical transformation (e.g. changing variable names and comments). I consider this plagiarism and a violation of academic code. First violation: Students must meet with the instructor. In most cases, the grade will be split between the authors of the copied programs. Second violation: Students will receive no credit for the assignment. An incident letter will be placed on file in the Computer Science Department and the matter referred to the Computer Science Department Chair.

Class attendance is expected and recorded.

Students with disabilities who wish to set up academic adjustment in this class should give me a copy of their "Confirmation of Eligibility for Academic Adjustment" from the Disability Support Services Office as soon as possible so we can discuss how the approved adjustment will be implemented in this class. Students without this form should contact the Disability Support Services Office, Buillon 205 or dssrecept@cwu.edu or 963-2171.

The schedule and procedures for this course are subject to change. It is the student's responsibility to learn of and adjust to changes.