CS 310: Data Structures

Grade of C or better in CS 211.

Required Text

Mark Allen Weiss, Data Structures & Problem Solving Using Java, 4th ed., Addison-Wesley, 2010. A copy of the text will be on 2-hour reserve in the Johnson Center Library.

Computing

It is assumed you will have access to a computer with the ability to edit, compile, and run Java programs. Some university labs provide this ability and the first week of the course will cover how to set up your personal environment. If you have difficulty accessing a suitable environment, contact the course staff.

• Piazza is the central site for our announcements, documents repository, and discussion board. The announcements and discussion board are part of the required reading for the course.
  • All instructors and TAs can view all material on Piazza
  • Do not e-mail course staff about programming problems; use the discussion board.
  • Use public posts on Piazza to discuss programming project requirements, labs, and other material related to the course.
  • When prompted by a TA, use private posts on Piazza to share portions of your code pertaining to your questions.
  • Refer to the Piazza main page for etiquette on what should be posted publicly versus privately
  • Email course staff only for logistical issues such as meeting outside of office hours, missing lab/lecture, grading disputes, medical situations, etc. Email addresses are listed on Piazza (Resources/Staff).
• BlackBoard is used for project submission and to post grades
• Office Hours are listed for all staff on Piazza under (Resources/Staff). No appointments are required to attend office hours: staff will be at the listed location at the given times with doors open ready to help. In addition to attending the regular meeting times, you are strongly encouraged to visit course staff during office hours to further your understanding of the material: we are here to help you learn.

CS 310 continues the study of data structures from CS 211. Students will learn how to approach larger and more challenging programming problems than the projects in CS 211. Programming is a significant part of this course and students should expect to spend a good deal of time on the programming projects. The course also introduces a variety of data structures and illustrates the types of problems for which they are useful.

Topics to be covered include.

• Generics and Collections
• Basic Complexity Analysis
• Linked Lists
• Stacks and Queues
• Simple and Balanced Binary Search Trees
• B-Trees and File Organization
• Hash Tables
• Priority Queues
• Graphs and Basic Graph Algorithms

By the end of the semester, a passing student will be able to carry out the following types of activities:

• Reinforced what they have learned about elementary data structures from CS 211
• Extended their knowledge of data structures to more sophisticated data structures. This includes balanced binary search trees, B-trees and B+-trees, hashing, and basic graphs.
• Use generic types in their data structures.
• Do more demanding programming than they had in CS 211. All programming is done in Java. This involves more program design and debugging techniques.

During lectures we will discuss programming concepts and instructors will provide demos of programming relevant to assignments. In addition to attending the regular meeting times, you are strongly encouraged to visit the professor and teaching assistant(s) during office hours to further your understanding of the material: we are here to help you learn.

Readings from the textbook relevant to each lecture are listed in the schedule. You will increase your understanding of lectures by reading associated textbook sections ahead of time, though this is not assumed. Additional reading material may be provided to supplement the textbook which will be posted on the course web page.

Students will receive a number of programming assignments during the semester. Each assignment will involve writing programs and answering questions about them to illustrate an understanding of course material. The programming assignments will be electronically submitted to Blackboard on dates specified in the assignment by 11:59 p.m. Students may submit assignments as many times as needed up to the deadline.

There will be one midterm exam during the course during the regularly scheduled lecture time. There will also be a comprehensive final exam at the end semester. Refer to the schedule for dates of the exams.

Final grades will be determined by scores obtained on homework assignments, quizzes, projects, the midterm, and final exams. If circumstances require it, the grading scale may be adjusted, generally in the students' favor.

Final grades will be assigned without rounding according to the following criteria. It is a 10-point scale per letter grade, with the upper and lower 2% of each 10% earning a + or -.

Programming homework grading will usually be divided into two portions weighted 50% for each portion.

1. Automatic Testing (50%): Public tests will be used to assess the correctness of programs. Running these tests while constructing your program will indicate exactly what your score on this portion will be.
2. Manual Inspection (50%): Each project will include a checklist of features your programs should exhibit. These usually comprise things that cannot be easily checked via unit tests such as good variable name selection, proper decomposition of a problem into multiple functions or cooperating objects, overall design elegance, and proper asymptotic complexity. These features will be checked by graders and assigned credit based on level of compliance.

Address grading issues with the grader first, usually a GTA that is listed in the grading feedback. This should be done respectfully either in person or via e-mail. If it is not possible to reach a resolution, the professor may be contacted by the grader to resolve the dispute.

If you have not initiated contact within 1 week after receiving a grade, the chance to contest the grade has closed.

• Homework is due via electronic submission by 11:59 p.m. on the dates specified. You can submit work to BlackBoard as many times as desired. Only the last submission will be graded.
• Work will not be accepted more than 48 hours after the assigned deadline
• Late work will be accepted with a -25% penalty per 24-hour period late within the acceptance deadline. The penalty is a ceiling penalty which lowers the maximum score that can be received.

  Examples: HW is due on 10/10 at 11:59pm and Jafar hands in his assignment on 10/11 at 1:00pm (13 hours late). Jafar would have scored 83 but instead gets min(83, 100-1*25) = 75.

  Iago hands his assignment in on 10/12 at 10:00pm (46 hours late); his un-adjusted score is 43 and with the late penalties his score is still 43: min(43, 100-2*25) = 43.

  Cassim submits his assignment on 10/13 at 3:00am (51 hours late) but receives a 0 because his submission is beyond the final cutoff..

• Each student starts the semester with three Day-Late Tokens. Whenever a student turns in a project late, tokens are automatically applied to the assignment. One token removes the penalty for submitting one day late. Assignments will not be accepted more than 48 hours late regardless of late tokens.

  Examples: HW is due on 10/10 at 11:59pm and Jafar hands in his assignment on 10/11 at 1:00pm (13 hours late). The TAs automatically deduct 1 late token from Jafar's stock so he receives no late penalty and gets an 83 on the HW.

  Iago hands his assignment in on 10/12 at 10:00pm (46 hours late); his un-adjusted score is 79. He has only 1 late token which is automatically deducted to remove one day of late penalties. His final score after penalties are applied is min(79, 100-1*25) = 75.

  Cassim submits his assignment on 10/13 at 3:00am (51 hours late). Despite having 3 late tokens, Cassim receives a 0 because his submission is beyond the final cutoff.

• Each late token remaining at the end of the semester are worth a 0.25% bonus to a student's overall grade.
• On-time submissions will generally be graded and available a week from submission, though exceptional circumstances may cause delays. Late submissions will be graded in as timely a fashion as schedules allow.
• Contact the professor as soon as possible if health or family emergencies occur that would interfere with completing course work.

PRIME DIRECTIVE: Be able to explain your own work including homework code and exam solutions.

Nearly all cheating in programming can be averted by adhering to the PRIME DIRECTIVE. Students may be asked at any time to explain code or exam solutions they submit. Inability to do so will be construed as evidence of misconduct. More specific guidelines are given below.

For the purposes of this course, the following actions constitute scholastic misconduct (cheating):

• Directly copying someone else's solution to a homework problem, including student solutions from a previous semester
• Directly copying an answer from some outside source such as the Internet or friend for a homework problem
• Making use of an Instructor Solution manual to complete homework problems
• Paying someone for a homework solution or submitting someone else's work as your own
• Posting solutions to any web site including our course web site
• Collaborating or copying someone else's answer during an exam
• Aiding or abetting any of the above
• Witnessing any of the above and failing to report it the instructor immediately

Refer to the following links for additional information.

• Computer science specific policies on scholastic dishonesty:

  http://cs.gmu.edu/wiki/pmwiki.php/HonorCode/CSHonorCodePolicies

• University Honor Code: http://academicintegrity.gmu.edu/honorcode/

Any instance of misconduct that is detected will be referred to the honor board and will likely result in failing the course. Be advised that the teaching team will be employing electronic means to detect plagiarism. This is extremely easy with computer code so keep your nose clean.

The purpose of this course is to learn about programming and learning from one another is a great help. To that end, the following actions will NOT be considered cheating in this course.

• Talking to other students in the course about HW problems and informally describing how a problem may be solved.
  • Be very careful as you do this that you do not share any sort of code as this will be detected.
• Getting or giving help fixing a small bug or two: a second set of eyes is a great boon to finding that misplaced semicolon that is preventing your code from compiling.
• Searching the Internet for alternative presentations of a programming concept.
• When unsure whether collaboration is fair or not, stop the activity until it can be cleared with instructor.

At all times keep the PRIME DIRECTIVE in mind when studying with another student. The above collaborations should be limited to getting someone over a hurdle, not carrying them across the finish line. Doing programming projects individually prepares you for the exams in which no collaboration of any kind is allowed.

Since this is a programming course, some special policies will be in effect.

• Programming assignments will be submitted to Blackboard at the specified dates. You may submit assignments to Blackboard as many times as you like: only the most recent submission will be graded (up to the deadline).
• Back up your program regularly. Keeping backup copies of your work is your responsibility. Losing work due to a disk failure, accidental deletion, etc., is not a justification for late submission. Technologies like Dropbox automate the task of backing up which can make life much easier and safer. Submitting occasional early versions to Blackboard is also wise. Should last-minute problems happen such as accidental deletion, you will at least have some of your work to show. No code to submit means no credit.
• Submitted code that does not compile will receive little to no credit.
• When test cases are provided by the instructor use them and make sure your code passes all tests.
• Familiarize yourself with how plagiarism works with programming as described in other parts of the syllabus.
• Keep an untouched copy of your final code submission. It is important that you not touch your programs once you have made your final submission. If there are any submission problems, consideration for credit will only be given if it can be verified that the programs were not changed after being submitted.

Students are expected to maintain a high level of civility for all participants in and out of class meetings. This includes respecting the beliefs of participants of all genders, ethnicities, and social backgrounds. Harassment of any type will not be tolerated and failure to behave in a respectful manner will result in referrals to University Counseling or the Office of Student Judicial Affairs. Any instances of sexual harassment will be reported to the Office of Equal Opportunity according the following policy: http://universitypolicy.gmu.edu/1202gen.html

Observance of religious events will be accommodated for students of any faith.

All possible accommodations will be made for students with disabilities. Please contact Disability Services (http://ods.gmu.edu/) and the instructor for further information.