CSCI 112: : Data Structures
General Information
 | Professor: Simon D.
Levy Additional Help: csci_help@wlu.edu |
Brief Overview
This is a second course in programming and problem solving with Python. Topics include:
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- the design and implementation of data structures and abstract data types
- an introduction to object-oriented design
- a survey of collections, including their formal properties, implementations, and applications
- an introduction to complexity analysis for assessing the space/time tradeoffs of various algorithms and data structures
- a survey of searching and sorting algorithms
- a detailed study of arrays and linked structures
Classroom work will consist of lecture and discussion. Written work will consist of several programming projects, homework exercises, three hourly exams, and a comprehensive final exam.
Textbook
The following textbook is required:
| Lambert, Fundamentals of Python: Data Structures (Cengage Learning, 2014, ISBN 978-1-285-75200-6). You can view an online copy with your W&L credentials. |
Grading
The written work for the course will consist of
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- Programming projects (50% of the grade)
- Three hourly exams (30% of the grade)
- A final exam(20% of the grade)
Programming assignments should be submitted to the private repository I have set up for you on github, using a separate folder for each assignment. Your repository name is https://github/com/simondlevy/<username>, where <username> is your W&L network user name (for example, jsmith26). Each assignment is due 11:59 PM on the Monday after lab. You will receive no credit for work submitted any other way (for example, by email), and I will take off 10% per day for lateness. If you are unhappy with your grade on an assignment, you must get back to me within a week for a review. I will ignore any such requests sent after this brief period.
The grading scale for your course grade will be 93-100 A; 90-92 A-; 87-89 B+; 83-86 B; 80-82 B-; 77-79 C+; 73-76 C; 70-72 C-; 67-69 D+; 63-66 D; 60-62 D-; below 60
Attendance
Attendance at labs is required. The only excuses for missing a lab are medical and other serious emergencies. If you miss a lab without an excuse approved by me, you will receive a grade of 0 for that lab. Excuses must be submitted to me before the lab whenever possible.
Be respectful of your classmates and the instructor. The use of laptops and mobile computing devices are permitted during class so long as they are being used for the course, such as for taking notes and locating information related to the course. These devices are NOT to be used during class for texting, phone calls, reading email, social networking, completing assignments for other courses, or shopping.
AI Policy
Please don’t use ChatGPT or other AI tools for completing the assignments in this course; instead, if you get stuck, ask me or one of the teaching assistants for help.
If I suspect that you submitted a copy/pasted an AI-generated solution, I will ask you to explain to me in-person how your solution works. If you are unable to do this, you will receive a grade of zero on the assignment.
Accommodations
Washington and Lee University makes reasonable academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. All undergraduate accommodations must be approved through the Office of the Dean of the College. Students requesting accommodations for this course should present an official accommodation letter within the first two weeks of the (fall or winter) term and schedule a meeting outside of class time to discuss accommodations. It is the student’s responsibility to present this paperwork in a timely fashion and to follow up about accommodation arrangements. Accommodations for test-taking should be arranged with the professor at least a week before the date of the test or exam.
Final Exam Policy
The final exam for this course will be given during the final exam week. The exam will be distributed electronically for you to complete in no more than three hours. You can return the exam to me via github.
Academic Integrity
The hourly exams and the final exam should be written individually and pledged.
Although you may discuss programming problems among yourselves, your programs should be your own work, unless otherwise specified (as when you are told to do pair programming). You MAY use code from the PowerPoint slides or from the textbook for the course. Otherwise, you may NOT use the work of your classmates, former students, friends, or anyone else in writing your programs. By “use” I mean turning in the work of others as your own, or even casting your eyes upon the work of others with a view to incorporating their solutions into your own. Deliberate concealment of sources constitutes plagiarism and will result in a failing grade for the course and a report to the EC. Deliberately providing solutions to other students, either verbally or in writing, via hardcopy or electronic transmission, will result in a failing grade for the course and a report to the EC. In particular, you may not share your work until the deadline to hand in material has passed. Please familiarize yourself with W&L’s policy on plagiarism.
Tentative Schedule
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
| 31 Aug Week 0 |
Course Intro | User interfaces: TUIs and GUIs | |||
| 7 Sep Week 1 |
User interfaces: TUIs and GUIs |
GUIs: –GUIs: Handling user events / Panels and widgets for input and output |
Lab1 | List boxes and popup dialogs | |
| 14 Sep Week 2 |
Overview of collections (Chapter 2) |
Searching, sorting, and complexity analysis (Chapter 3) |
Lab 2 | Finding faster algorithms | |
| 21 Sep Week 3 |
Finding faster algorithms | Review for Exam | Lab 3 | First hourly exam | |
| 28 Sep Week 4 |
Discuss Exam |
Array-based structures |
Lab 4 | Introduction to linked structures | |
| 5 Oct Week 5 |
Stacks (Chapter 7) |
Reading Day; No Class | Reading Day; No Class | ||
| 12 Oct Week 6 |
Stack applications | Queues (Chapter 8) | Lab 5 |
Binary Search] Trees |
|
| 19 Oct Week 7 |
Binary Search] Trees |
Review for exam | Lab 6 | Second hourly exam | |
| 26 Oct Week 8 |
Discuss exam | Heaps (Chapter 10) |
Lab 7 | Heaps (Chapter 10) |
|
| 2 Nov Week 9 |
Bucket Sort (Chapter11) (tutorial video) |
Implementations of dictionaries (Chapter 11) |
Hashing / Review for third exam |
||
| 9 Nov Week 10 |
Third hourly exam |
Discuss exam | Introduction to graphs (Chapter 12) |
||
| 16 Nov Week 11 |
Introduction to graphs (Chapter 12) |
Graph algorithms | Lab 10 | ||
| 30 Nov Week 12 |
Graph algorithms |
Lab 11 | Review for final exam |