CMSC 341 Data Structures
Spring 2004 Section 0101
Tues/Thurs 5:30 - 6:45pm LH 7
Mr. Mitch Edelman

Exam 1 sample solutions

You can get the exam 1 sample solutions here

Announcements

Please click here for current announcements. Note: the final exam review session is scheduled for May 11.

Course Description

The principle objectives of the course are to discuss the design and analysis of a wide range of data structures, commonly used in almost all computing applications.

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 time and space complexity of algorithms, how to choose appropriate data structures, and how to integrate data structures and algorithms into the code you develop.


Textbooks

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

Recommended:


Prerequisites

You should have mastered the material from CMSC 201, CMSC 202, and CMSC 203, including skill in coding in C++. 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 is based upon 5 projects, 2 in-class exams, the final exam, and any pop quizzes I may give. 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 not be given. If you know in advance AND if you notify me that you will miss an exam, or if an emergency arises that results in your missing an exam, then each of your other 2 exams will be weighted at 30%. Apart from those exceptions, if you miss an exam, your course grade will be calculated with a zero for the missed exam.

If you turn in all scheduled work (projects and exams), I will assign a greater weigh to your best homework, and a correspondingly smaller weight to your poorest project. Please note that turning in a project and receiving a poor grade - even a zero - will benefit you much more than not turning in anything at all.

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, except as noted above.

Your grade is given for timely work done during the semester; in particular, the only reason for the award of an incomplete is for exceptionally extenuating circumstances, such as illness requiring extended hospitalization.

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.

Please note that the lecture notes are not a substitute for what is covered in class!

If, in my estimation, students are coming to lecture unprepared, or not attending, I reserve the right to give unannounced quizzes.

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.


BlackBoard Discussion Board

A BlackBoard site has been created for this course. This site is used primarily to support discussion boards, but announcements are also posted there. A discussion board will be established for each programming project. Students are encouraged to post general project questions, answer questions posted by other students or just browse the discussion board to find answers to project questions. Your instructors and TAs will also be posting questions and answers. Your questions may be posted anonymously. Other discussion boards for topics such as general C++ questions will also be established. The course BlackBoard is accessed by logging on to my.umbc.edu and clicking on the BlackBoard tab at the top of the page.

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:

Academic Integrity

This is serious. Read it and make sure you understand it. It applies to you
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), erasers, and calculators 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
1
Tue Jan 27
Introduction and C++ 
MAW 1
2
Thur Jan 29 C++ and OOP
MAW 1

Mon Feb 2
Project 1 Assigned

3 Tues Feb 3 Asymptotic Analysis MAW 2
4 Thurs Feb 5 Asymptotic Analysis MAW 3
5 Tues Feb 10 List ADT and Implementations MAW 3
6 Thurs Feb 12 List Implementations MAW 3

Sun Feb 15
Project 1 Due at 11:59pm


Mon Feb 16
Project 2 Assigned

7 Tues Feb 17 Stacks, Queue, Dequeue ADT MAW 3
8 Thurs Feb 19 Stacks, Queue, Dequeue ADT MAW 3
9
Tues Feb 24
Exam 1
Classes 1 - 8
10 Thurs Feb 26 Recursion class notes

Sun Feb 29
Project 2 Due at 11:59pm

11 Tues Mar 2 Binary Search trees MAW 4
12 Thurs Mar 4 Binary Search Trees MAW 4

Mon Mar 8
Project 3 Assigned

13 Tues Mar 9 Balanced Search Trees MAW 4
14 Thurs Mar 11 Balanced Search Trees MAW 4
15
Tues Mar 16 Balanced Search Trees MAW 4
16 Thurs Mar 18 Balanced Search Trees MAW 4 & 12

Sun Mar 21
Project 3 Due at 11:59pm


Tues Mar 23
Spring Break



Thurs Mar 25
Spring Break

17 Tues Mar 30 Balanced Search Trees MAW 4 & 12
18
Thurs Apr 1 Hashing MAW 5
19 Tues Apr 6
Exam 2
Classes 10 - 18

Wed Apr 7
Project 4 Assigned

20 Thurs Apr 8 Hashing
MAW 5
21 Tues Apr 13 Hashing MAW 5
22 Thurs Apr 15 Priority Queues and Heaps MAW 6

Tues Apr 20
Project 4 Due 11:59pm

23 Tues Apr 20 Priority Queues and Heaps
MAW 6

Wed Apr 21
Project 5 Assigned

24 Thurs Apr 22 Skip Lists MAW 10 + notes
25 Tues Apr 27 Skip Lists MAW 10 + notes
26 Thurs Apr 29 Disjoint Sets MAW 8
27 Tues May 4 B - Trees MAW 4 + notes
28 Thurs May 6 B - Trees MAW 4 + notes

Sun May 9
Project 5 Due 11:59pm

Review Tue May 11
Final Exam Review
LH 7 - 7:00 P.M.
classes 1-28

Tuesday May 18
6:00 - 8:00pm
Final Exam
Classes 19 - 28

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/spring04/index.shtml
Please check the web page frequently. Any changes to the page will be mentioned in the "Latest News" link. 
Last modified on Monday January 26, 2004 by Mitch Edelman

email: edelman@cs.umbc.edu
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