The text is Michael Main, Data Structures & Other Objects Using Java, 3rd ed. Addison-Wesley 2006.
CS 310 and INFS 590 are being combined into one course as a part of the merging of the Computer Science and the Information Systems departments.
The prerequisite for this course is C or better in CS 211 (or equivalent for students coming from INFS). I will assume that you have developed a significant degree of skill in programming (program organization, coding, documenting, testing and debugging) -- you will develop yet more this semester. I will also assume that you are acquainted with basic complexity analysis ("big O"), are happy manipulating pointers and linked data structures, and can think recursively. You should be able to build abstract data types using Java classes.
The purpose of the course is two-fold. We will continue the study of data structures from CS 211 and we will learn how to approach larger and more challenging programming projects than those you did in CS 211. We will cover essentially the second half of the textbook. Programming is a significant part of this course and you should expect to spend a good deal of time on the course projects.
There will be several programming assignments. Programming assignments will be posted on the course website
You may discuss the programming projects with other students (this is encouraged) but you must do and submit your own work. No joint work will be accepted. Read the CS Department honor code: http://cs.gmu.edu/wiki/pmwiki.php/HonorCode/CSHonorCodePolicies, and the University honor code: http://www.gmu.edu/catalog/acad pol.html. You are bound by these honor codes. Any submitted work which shows too much commonality with others' work to be completely original, or any plagiarized work, will receive a grade of 0. Any code which is presented in class or provided to you as part of the project may be included in your programs.
You will submit programs electronically and you will also hand in a hard copy of your source code. External documentation will be handed in with the hard copy of your program. You can only turn in a program once. No revisions or additions can be made to your program after it has been submitted. Late programs will be accepted with a 10 points per day late penalty. You are responsible for keeping backups of your work ("my disk crashed" and "my roommate deleted my program" are not reasons for late submissions).
There will be a midterm exam and a final. There will be no makeups on exams except under exceptional circumstances (as judged by me), and any such makeup must be arranged in advanced. Grades will computed from a weighted average computed with the following weights: