CMSC 341 Section 0101 Basic Info

Final grades are HERE

CMSC 341 Data Structures
Fall 2002
Section 0401
Dr. Tim Oates
Mon/Wed 3:30-4:45
Fine Arts 006

Course Description

Data Structures are the paramount concern of this course. The principle objective of the course is to help you learn how to design and analyze a wide range of data structures.

The course covers data structures and associated algorithms. Relationships among data structures, their utility in various situations, and factors affecting their performance in algorithms will be considered. You will learn to analyze the demands of algorithms, how to choose appropriate data structures, and how to integrate data structures into algorithms.

Textbooks

Required: Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C++, 2nd Edition, by Mark Alan Weiss, Addison-Wesley

Recommended:

Your favorite C++ reference book -- here are some of mine

The C++ Programming Language, Special Edition by Bjarne Stroustroup

C++ Primer, Third Edition by Stanely B. Lippman, Josee Lajoie

C++ FAQs, Second Edition by Marshall Cline, Greg Lomow, Mike Girou

Effective C++ Second Edition by Scott Meyers

More Effective C++ by Scott Meyers

Thinking in C++ by Bruce Eckel.
This book is available in its entirety on the web at
http://www.mindview.net/Books/TICPP/ThinkingInCPP2e.html

Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis by Clifford Shaffer, Prentice-Hall, 1996. This book has good coverage of data structures and algorithm analysis in C++. It has excellent descriptions of a number of data structures.
Data Structures, Algorithms, and Applications in C++ by Sartaj Sahni, McGraw-Hill, 1998. Covers some material not covered by the Heileman text.
Data Structures and Algorithms by Alfred Aho, John Hopcroft, and Jeffrey Ullman, Addison-Wesley, 1983. This is one of the all-time classics, written in Pascal.
Fundamentals of Data Structures by Ellis Horowitz, Sartaj Sahni, and Dinesh Mehta, 1995. Another classic. In C++.
Abstract Data Types by Nell Dale and Henry Walker, D.C. Heath and Company, 1996. A high-level view of data structures and algorithms, with no programming language specified. A very worthwhile and modern text with an alternative viewpoint.

Prerequisites

We will assume that you have mastered the material from CMSC 201, CMSC 202, and CMSC 203, including mastery of the C++ language. We will not review material that has been covered in the prerequisite courses. We do cover a few of the data structures from CMSC 202, but from a deeper point-of-view. A few advanced C++ topics such as templates and exceptions will be reviewed.

Grading

Your grade for this course will be based upon 5 projects, 2 in-class exams and the final exam. The projects are worth 40% of your grade, each project weighted equally. Each in-class exam is worth 20 percentage points; the final is worth 20 points. Note that the due dates for the projects and the dates of the exams are already set (q.v., the syllabus and project policy handout). Please plan your schedules accordingly. Makeup exams will be given only under the most dire circumstances (almost never).

Your final letter grade is based on the standard formula:

0 <= F < 60, 60 <= D < 70, 70 <= C < 80, 80 <= B < 90, 90 <= A <= 100

These levels may be adjusted slightly in your favor, but grades will not be ``curved'' in the conventional sense.

Your grade is given for timely work done during the semester; incomplete grades will only be given for medical illness or other such dire circumstances.

Attendance and Readings

You are expected to attend all lectures. You are responsible for all material covered in the lecture, even if it is not in the textbook. You should keep up with the assigned readings during the semester. Some reading material will be distributed through the course web page. You are responsible for the material in the readings, even if it is not covered during lecture.

You must study to do well in this course. It will not be enough to attend lectures and do the homework. As advanced undergraduates, you will be responsible for learning material that is not necessarily covered in lectures. A prime learning requirement is that you contribute to class discussions and raise questions about the course material.

Help Sessions

Help sessions are held throughout the semester from 8:30PM - 9:30PM every Thursday in room SS-003 and from 11:00AM-12:00PM every Friday in room ACIV-014. Help session topics include Unix, makefiles, compiling with g++, good coding practices and C++ topics such as working with templates, exceptions and class design. Projects and exam review questions will also be discussed. Students are encouraged to suggest help session topics.

Contacting Me or the TAs

Please feel free to visit me or the TAs during our office hours. If you can't make it during the regular hours, please ask for an appointment. We will do everything we can to be available to provide help with this course. Office hours, phone numbers and other contact information is available on-line. If you need to contact any of the course staff outside of lecture and office hours, email is much better than the telephone. You should, however, observe the following etiquette:

Please do not email program code. If you want me or the TA to help you debug your code submit the code in the usual way, and then send email about the problem. We will look at the submitted code. Please, do NOT mail code to me or to the TA!
Note that the Help Center does not offer help with code for this course.
Please use your real name. Email from "Crazy Ape" does not get the attention you may want it to. Besides, when you get that great-paying job because you know data structures so well, will you want to send mail to your boss from "Crazy Ape?" Your mail will look much more professional if you use your real name.
Include a meaningful subject line, something like "CMSC 341 Project 2 question."

Academic Integrity

Cheating in any form will not be tolerated. Instances of cheating will be reported to the UMBC Academic Conduct Committee. These reports are filed by the Committee and can be used for disciplinary action such as a permanent record on your transcript. Academic honesty is absolutely required of you. You are expected to be honest yourself and to report any cases of dishonesty you see among other students in this class. Reports of dishonest behavior will be kept anonymous.
Further details on honesty in doing projects for this course are on-line at the Project Policy link.

Students are welcome and encouraged to study together for exams, but examinations are to be your own work -- not your neighbor's and not your notes. All exams are closed-book, closed-notes. Only pencils (or pens) and erasers are permitted in the exam room unless otherwise indicated. Scratch paper is provided to you, as needed. Having any other materials in your possession during an exam will be taken as evidence of cheating and dealt with accordingly.

Syllabus

Class	Date	Topic	Reading
	Wed 28 Aug	Project 1 Assigned
1	Wed 28 Aug	Introduction and C++	MAW 1
	Mon 2 Sep	Holiday	MAW 1
2	Wed 4 Sep	C++ and OOP	MAW 1
3	Mon 9 Sep	Asymptotic Analysis	MAW 2
4	Wed 11 Sep	List ADT and Implementations	MAW 3
5	Mon 16 Sep	List Implementations	MAW 3
	Wed 18 Sep	Project 1 Due Project 2 Assigned
6	Wed 18 Sep	Stacks, Queues and Deques	MAW 3
7	Mon 23 Sep	Stacks, Queues and Deques	MAW 3
8	Wed 25 Sep	Binary Search Trees	MAW 4
9	Mon 30 Sep	Binary Search Trees	MAW 4
	Wed 2 Oct	Project 2 Due at 11:59pm	MAW 5
10	Wed 2 Oct	Balanced Search Trees	MAW 4
11	Mon 7 Oct	Exam 1	Classes 1 thru 9
	Wed 9 Oct	Project 3 Assigned
12	Wed 9 Oct	Balanced Search Trees	MAW 4
13	Mon 14 Oct	Balances Search Trees	MAW 4
14	Wed 16 Oct	Balanced Search Trees	MAW 4
15	Mon 21 Oct	Hashing	MAW 5
	Wed 23 Oct	Project 3 Due at 11:59pm	MAW 5
16	Wed 23 Oct	Hashing	MAW 5
17	Mon 28 Oct	Priority Queues and Heaps	MAW 6
18	Wed 30 Oct	Priority Queues and Heaps	MAW 6
19	Mon 4 Nov	Exam 2	Classes 10 - 18
	Wed 6 Nov	Project 4 Assigned
20	Wed 6 Nov	Skip Lists	MAW 10 + Notes
21	Mon 11 Nov	Skip Lists	MAW 10 + notes
22	Wed 13 Nov	Graphs	MAW 9
23	Mon 18 Nov	Graphs	MAW 9
	Wed 20 Nov	Project 4 Due 11:59pm Project 5 Assigned
24	Wed 20 Nov	Graphs	MAW 9
25	Mon 25 Nov	Disjoint Sets	MAW 8
26	Wed 27 Nov	Disjoint Sets	MAW 8
27	Mon 2 Dec	B - Trees	MAW 4 + notes
	Wed 4 Dec	Project 5 Due 11:59pm
28	Wed 4 Dec	B - Trees	MAW 4 + notes
29	Mon 10 Dec	Advanced Topics
	Sometime between Dec 12th and 18th	Final Exam

Dates and topics are subject to change as required by class progress
MAW = Weiss text "Data Structures & Algorithm Analysis in C++"

Course Web Page

A few handouts will be provided in paper form at the first class. After that, all handouts will be provided only on the web. The course web page URL is


www.cs.umbc.edu/courses/undergraduate/341/fall02/index.shtml

Please check the web page frequently. Any changes to the page will be mentioned in the "What's New" link.

Last modified on Thursday, July 25, 2002 by Tim Oates

email: oates@cs.umbc.edu
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