CSCI 151: Principles of Computer Science II

Semester: Spring 2011
Room: King 221
Class Time: Mon/Wed/Fri 10:00pm-10:50am
Office Hours: Tuesday, 3:00-4:30pm
Wednesday, 2:30-4:00pm
or by appointment
Professor: Benjamin Kuperman
email: benjamin.kuperman AT oberlin edu
Please include "cs151" in the subject.
AIM: ProfKuperman
Office: King 223B
Phone: x58556

Announcements

Schedule

(Subject to change)
WEEK DAY ANNOUNCEMENTS READING HW
1 Feb 07   Course Overview Lab 0 - Intro to lab/Eclipse
Feb 09 Review of Java and Object Oriented Programming
  • See Professor Sharp's awesome Java Bootcamp document for a quick refresher
(Skim: Ch 1-3, Read: 2.5, 2.6, 3.3)
Feb 11
2 Feb 14   Inheritance, Generics, and Collections
(Read: Ch 4, 6) 		Prelab 1 - (PDF)
Lab 1 - MyArrayList
Feb 16 Last Day to Add/Drop Data Structure: Array Lists, Iterators
(Read Ch 15)
Feb 18   Algorithm Analysis
  • Big-Oh Notation
  • Algorithm Growth
  • Classes of algorithms

(Read Ch 5)
3 Feb 21   Prelab 2

Lab 2 - Algorithm Timing
Feb 23 Algorithm: Insertion and Selection Sort
Algorithm: Linear & Binary Search
(Read Ch 8.1-8.3, 5.5-5.6)
Feb 25 Data Structure: Stacks
Data Structure: Queues
(Read Ch 16)
4 Feb 28   Recursion
  • Divide and Conquer
  • Recursive backtracking
  • Dynamic programming
(Read Ch 7.1-7.3, 7.5-7.7) 		Prelab 3

Lab 3 - Maze Solver
Mar 02 Algorithm: Merge sort
Algorithm: Lower bound of search
(Read Ch 8.5, 8.8)
Mar 04 Data Structure: Linked Lists
(Read Ch 17)
5 Mar 07   Prelab 4

Lab 4 - DNA Manipulation
Mar 09 Data Structure: Trees
  • General
  • BST
(Read Ch 18)
Mar 11
6 Mar 14   Data Structure: Balanced Trees
  • AVL
  • Red-Black
(Read Ch 19) 		Prelab 5

Lab 5 - Binary Tree Methods
Mar 16
Mar 18
7 Mar 21   Swing and Graphical User Interfaces
Prelab: (Read Appendix B)
Mar 23 Review for exam
Mar 25 Midterm Exam [topics]
  Mar 28 Spring Break (Mar 26-Apr 3)
Mar 30
Apr 01
8 Apr 04   Data Structure: Maps and Sets
Data Structure: Priority Queues
  • Heaps
  • Array based heaps
  • Heapsort

(Read Ch 21) 		Lab 6 - WebPageIndex
(Search Engine Part 1)
Apr 06
Apr 08
9 Apr 11 Last Day for P/NP, CR/NE,
  or Withdraw		 Data Structure: Hashtables
(Read Ch 20) 		Prelab 7

Lab 7 - ProcessQueries
(Search Engine Part 2)
Apr 13  
Apr 15
10 Apr 18   Data Structure: Tries Prelab 8

Lab 8 - Million Monkeys
Apr 20 Data Structure: Graphs
  • Representation
  • Shortest Path
  • Topological Sorting

(Read Ch 14)
Apr 22
11 Apr 25   Prelab 9

Lab 9 - Boggle
Apr 27
Apr 29
12 May 02   Prelab 10

Lab 10 - Kevin Bacon Game
May 04 More Sorting Algorithms
  • Bubble
  • Shell
  • Quick
Lower bounds of sorting
Quickselect
(Read Ch 8)
May 06
13 May 09   Lab review and Eclipse tips
May 11 String edit distance (aka Levenshtein Distance)
May 13 Review, interview questions, comics
  May 18 Final Exam (7-9pm King 221) [topics]

Course Description

From the Oberlin catalog course description:

This course builds upon the principles introduced in CSCI 150 and provides a general background for further study in Computer Science. The course will cover object-oriented programming concepts; the design and implementation of data structures (linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, heaps, hash tables, and graphs) and related algorithmic techniques (searching, sorting, recursion); and algorithm analysis. Students will be expected to complete a number of programming projects illustrating the concepts presented.

Goals and course objectives

My goals and objectives for students taking this course are as follows:

  1. Understand Big-O measurements and why it is of great importance to data structures and algorithms
  2. Study common algorithms used in computer science
    • Sorting: Bubble, insertion, shell, merge, quick, heap, radix
    • Searching/Selection: Linear, binary, quick
  3. Become skilled in common data structures (lists, stacks, queues, trees, heaps, hashtables)
    • Be able to create any of these from scratch -- structure and operations
    • Know the running times for the most common operations
    • Be able to reason about which structure is most appropriate for a given task
  4. Become fluent in Java programming including
    • Design and creation of interworking classes
    • Proper use of visibility modifiers
    • Creation and handling of exceptions
    • Regular use Javadoc
  5. Gain experience using various tools in the Java/Linux environment
  6. Develop the habits of proper coding and thorough testing

Textbook

The text for the course is Data Structures and Problem Solving Using Java, Fourth Edition by Mark Weiss. All of the code from the text is available on the author's website: http://www.cs.fiu.edu/~weiss/dsj4/code/code.html

Data Structures and Problem Solving

Data Structures & Problem Solving Using Java by Weiss

You can use the 3rd edition if you want, but you might want to cross-check the readings.

A copy should be on reserve in the library.

Grading

Course grades will be calculated based on the following distribution:

The distribution might be adjusted based on the progression of the course.

Programming projects will generally consist of two major components:

  1. An underlying data structure implementation
  2. An application of this data structure
The actual breakdown of points will depend on the individual project, but the plurality of points will be for the data structure implementation. Projects will also be graded on style, documentation, and test cases.

If a portion of your program is not working correctly, please clearly indicate it in the comments at the beginning of the file and in the methods that are not working. Problems that I discover are graded more severely than those you discover.

Programming assignments will be graded on both correctness as well as programming style. Good programming style includes the following:

More information on Java style can be found on Sun's Code Conventions web page. There is also an open source tool checkstyle that can be used to check the style used.

Course Policy

Attendance

Regular class and lab attendance and participation is expected. Please talk to me if regular class attendance is going to be a problem.

Homework Assignments

There will be a number of assignments made in this class. I expect every student to attempt each assignment and turn in the results. You are encouraged to complete every assignment as this is one of the most effective ways to learn the material.

If you know that for some reason you will not be able to submit the assignment before the deadline, you should contact me in advance of the deadline. Extensions are only granted in exceptional circumstances, but need to be done in advance.

Late submissions of lab assignments will be penalized up to 10% per day. No late prelabs will be accepted.

Accommodations for students with disabilities

If you have a disability that might impact your performance in this course, or requires special accommodation, please contact me as soon as possible so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Support is available through Student Academic Services, specifically Jane Boomer. You will need to contact them to get your disability documented before accommodations can be made.

Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty

I have very low tolerance for academic dishonesty, and will vigorously pursue available remedies for any incidents. All work in this class is to be performed according to the Oberlin Honor Code. Specifically I expect that:

  1. Quizzes and exams will be closed book, closed notes, and no communication between students. This includes discussing the same to students who are taking a quiz/exam at another time.
  2. Discussion of assignments is expected and encouraged, however all work and code on assignments should be your own without outside assistance.
  3. Sources should be cited including the textbook and other web sites when you use them in your work.
  4. You are not permitted to share your source code with other students, including future ones.
  5. You are not permitted to use other students solutions as your own (even those from a prior semester), nor answer keys, nor instructor versions.

Illustrative examples:

  1. Confirming that we had and exam is OK, telling another student in the class who has not taken it that it was easy/hard, what topics, etc. is NOT OK.
  2. On a project or homework, discussing what needs to be done and how it can be done is OK, having a student (other than a TA) go over your code is NOT OK, discussing what might be wrong and how to tell is OK (and encouraged).
  3. Other than your partner on a given assignment, it is NOT OK to give a student a copy of your code or for them to give you a copy of theirs. As a rule of thumb when discussing the assignments, you should not be writing finished solutions out, and you should be able to independently recreate the material on your own.
  4. On an assignment, you base your design off of the textbook's example. This is OK if you cite the source in the code. You don't need to have it be part of the Javadoc.

All assignments must include the following signed statement:

"I have adhered to the Honor Code in this assignment."

Electronic submissions should include the honor statement in either the README file or header comments and must include your name.

Grader and Tutors

Contact me if you are interested in a Student Academic Services approved tutor.

The CSMC might hold walk-in tutoring sessions as well.

VI PoweredLast Modified: February 11, 2011 - Benjamin A. Kuperman

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