CMSC 341 Data Structures Spring 2006

Section 0301 meets MW 5:30 - 6:45 in room ACIV 150

Instructor: Mitch Edelman - ITE 218

Office hours: MW, immediately after class, until 8:00 PM

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++, 3rd Edition, by Mark Alan Weiss, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-321-37531-9
Please Note: this is not the text we used last semester!

Recommended:

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 concepts 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 on 5 porgramming projects, 2 in-class exams and the final exam.

Each programming project is 8% of your grade, each exam is 20% of your grade.

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.

Projects are due on the posted dates. Please don't ask for extensions for reasons other than illness or emergencies. An "emergency" is a sudden and unexpected situation requiring your immediate attention. So a scheduled business trip isnt an emergency. A concert isnt an emergency, either (although I will cancel classes in the event of a reunion tour of the Beatles, Grateful Dead, Doors, and Jimi Hendrix).

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. In particular, incompletes may not be given because a student failed to turn in required work timely, or to avoid a failing grade.

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.
Participation in class discussions may also be considered in adjusting a student's grade.

BlackBoard Discussion Board

A BlackBoard site has been created for this course. This site is used primarily to support discussion boards, but announcements may also be 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 monitoring these boards.

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, the TAs, or other professors 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

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 for the second exam, non-programmable 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.

Class Schedule

Class
Date
Topic
Reading
1 Mon Jan 30 Introduction and C++ MAW 1
2
Wed Feb 1 C++ and OOP MAW 1

Mon Feb 6
Project 1 Assigned
3 Mon Feb 6 Asymptotic Analysis MAW 2
4 Wed Feb 8 Asymptotic Analysis MAW 3
5 Mon Feb 13 List ADT and Implementations MAW 3
6 Wed Feb 15 List Implementations MAW 3

Sun Feb 19
Project 1 Due
7 Mon Feb 20 Stacks, Queue, Dequeue ADT MAW 3
8 Wed Feb 22 Stacks, Queue, Dequeue ADT MAW 3
9 Mon Feb 27
Exam 1
 		Classes 1 - 8

Wed Mar 1
Project 2 Assigned
10 Wed Mar 1 Introduction to Trees MAW 4
11
Mon Mar 6 Binary Search Trees MAW 4
12 Wed Mar 8 Binary Search Trees MAW 4
13 Mon Mar 13 K-D trees MAW 12

Tues Mar 14
Project 2 Due
14 Wed Mar 15 Splay Trees MAW 4.5

Mon Mar 20
Spring Break

Wed Mar 22
Spring Break

Mon Mar 27
Project 3 Assigned
15 Mon Mar 27 Red-Black Trees MAW 12.2 + notes
16 Wed Mar 29 Red-Black Trees MAW 12.2 + notes
17 Mon Apr 3 B-Trees MAW 4.7
18 Wed Apr 5 B-Trees MAW 4.7

Sun Apr 9
Project 3 Due
19 Mon Apr 10 Priority Queues and Heaps MAW 6
20 Wed Apr 12 Priority Queues and Heaps MAW 6
21 Mon Apr 17
Exam 2
 		Classes 10 - 20

Wed Apr 19
Project 4 Assigned
22 Wed Apr 19 Hashing MAW 5
23 Mon Apr 24 Hashing MAW 5
24 Wed Apr 26 Skip Lists MAW 10.4.2 + notes
25 Mon May 1 Skip Lists MAW 10.4.2 + notes

Tues May 2
Project 4 Due

Wed May 3
Project 5 Assigned
26 Wed May 3 Disjoint Sets MAW 8
27 Mon May 8 Graphs MAW 9.1, 9.3 + notes
28 Wed May 10 Graphs MAW 9.1, 9.3 + notes
29 Mon May 15 MAW 9.1, 9.3 + notes

Tues May 16
Project 5 Due

Mon, 5/22
6:00-8{00PM
Final Exam
Classes 22 - 29

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/spring06/index.shtml
Please check the web page frequently. Any changes to the page will be mentioned in the "Latest News" link. 
Last modified on Saturday Jan 28 by Mitch Edelman

email: edelman@cs.umbc.edu
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