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CMSC 341 Data Structures Spring 2011

Section 2 (1072) Mon/Wed 5:30 - 6:45pm, ITE 231

Prof. Yun Peng

Office: ITE 341

Office hours: Mon/Wed 4:00 - 5:00 or by appointment

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 Java, 2nd Edition, by Mark Alan Weiss, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-321-37013-9

Recommended:


Prerequisites

We will assume that you have mastered the material from CMSC 201, CMSC 202, and CMSC 203. 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. We assume prior experience with Java, review of Java will not be provided. For those of you who are not familiar with Java, please seek help from Computer Science Help Center or TA.

Grading

Your grade for this course will be based on 4 programming projects, best 5 out of 6 homework assignments, 2 in-class exams and the final exam. These 3 exams are non-cumulative. The 4 programming projects are 40% of your final grade, 5 homeworks 10%, and 3 exams 50%.

Note that the due dates for the projects and the dates of the exams are already set (q.v., the syllabus and project policy page). Please plan your schedules accordingly. Makeup exams will be given only under the most dire circumstances (almost never). Project regrade request must be submitted to the TA for your section within 1 week of a returned grade. In some unusual circumstances you may receive a low project score because of a single, simple error that results in many incorrect outputs or results in a compiler/linker error. The definition of "simple error" is determined by your TA. In such cases, your TA may (at his discretion) allow you to fix the simple mistake and have your project regraded. A 10 point deduction will be assessed during the regrade process. There will be NO regrades for homeworks.

All homework shall be submitted in hard copy in class of the due date. All projects and homework will not be accepted past the due date resulting in zero points for that assignment.

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.


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

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.


Class Schedule

Please Note Schedule Changes Effective March 14

Class
Date
Topic
Reading
Assignment
1 Wed Jan 26 Introduction to CVS and Ant MAW 1, CVS & Ant notes Project 0 out
2
Mon Jan 31 Java refresh MAW 1
3
Wed Feb 2 Asymptotic Analysis MAW 2
4 Mon Feb 7 Asymptotic Analysis MAW 2 Project 0 due, Project 1 out
5 Wed Feb 9 List ADT and Implementations MAW 3.1 & 3.2 Homework 1 out
6 Mon Feb 14 Stacks and Queues MAW 3.2; 3.3
7 Wed Feb 16 Introduction to Trees MAW 4.1 & 4.2 Homework 1 due, Homework 2 out
8 Mon Feb 21 Binary Search Trees MAW 4.3
9
Wed Feb 23 Binary Search Trees MAW 4.3 Homework 2 due,
Project 1 due, Project 2 out
10 Mon Feb 28
Exam 1
Classes 1 - 9
11
Wed Mar 2 Splay Trees MAW 4.5-6, 11.5
12 Mon Mar 7 K-D Trees MAW 12.6
13 Wed Mar 9 Red-Black Trees MAW 12.2 + notes Homework 3 out
14 Mon Mar 14 Red-Black Trees MAW 12.2 + notes
15 Wed Mar 16 B-Trees MAW 4.7 Homework 3 due, Homework 4 out

Mon Mar 21
Spring Break



Wed Mar 23
Spring Break


16 Mon Mar 28 B-Trees MAW 4.7
17 Wed Mar 30 Priority Queues and Heaps MAW 6

Sun Apr 3

Project 2 due, Project 3 out
18 Mon Apr 4 Priority Queues and Heaps MAW 6 Homework 4 due
19 Wed Apr 6
Exam 2
Classes 11 - 18
20 Mon Apr 11 Hashing MAW 5
21 Wed Apr 13 Hashing MAW 5 Homework 5 out
22 Mon Apr 18 Skip Lists MAW 10.4.2 + notes
23 Wed Apr 20 Skip Lists, Disjoint Sets MAW 10.4.2 & 8 Homework 5 due,
24 Mon Apr 25 Disjoint Sets MAW 8

Tue Apr 26

Project 3 due, Project 4 out
25 Wed Apr 27 Graphs MAW 9.1 - 9.3 + notes
26 Mon May 2 Graphs MAW 9.1 - 9.3 + notes Homework 6 out
27 Wed May 4 Graphs MAW 9.1 - 9.3 + notes
28 Mon May 9 Special Topics
Homework 6 due
29 Wed May 11 Review

Project 4 due

Mon May 16
Final Exam
Classes 20 - 27 6:00 - 8:00PM, ITE 231

Course Web Page

All handouts will be provided only on the web. The course web page URL is

www.cs.umbc.edu/courses/undergraduate/341/spring11/index.shtml
Please check the web page frequently. Any changes to the page will be mentioned in the "Latest News" link. 
Last modified on Wednesday Jan 19, 2011 by Yun Peng

email: ypeng AT umbc.edu
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