Difference between revisions of "CISC220 F2023"

Comprehensive introduction to data structures and algorithms, including their design, analysis, and implementation. Topics include recursion, stacks, queues, lists, heaps, hash tables, search trees, sorting, and graphs.

•  ??, E-mail: ??, office hours: ?? pm on ?? in Smith ??

• Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:10 am to 12:30 pm
• Lab times: (080L) Thursdays 2:20 to 3:15 pm, (081L) Fridays 3:00 to 3:55 pm

• 40% Labs (5% each). These are problem sets/smaller programming exercises which are assigned in lab most weeks and due by midnight the night before the next lab. All written answers must be in PDF form. Attendance at labs is expected--this is your chance to ask questions face to face and get started early on the assignment
• 20% Programming projects (10% each). These are larger two-week projects.
• 40% Quizzes (5% each)

Your labs and programming projects are due by midnight of the deadline day (with a small grace period afterward). All should be submitted directly to Canvas--e-mail submissions will not be accepted. A late homework is a 0 without a valid prior excuse. To give you a little flexibility, you have 6 "late days" to use over the semester to extend the deadline by one day each without penalty. No more than two late days may be used per assignment. Late days will automatically be subtracted, but as a courtesy please notify the instructor and TA in an e-mail of your intention to use them before the deadline.

Students can discuss problems with one another in general terms, but must work independently on all assignments. This also applies to online and printed resources: you may consult them as references (as long as you cite them), but the words you turn in must be yours alone. Any quoting must be clear and appropriately cited. The University's policies on academic dishonesty are set forth in the student code of conduct here.

For the overall course grade, a preliminary absolute mark will be assigned to each student based on the percentage of the total possible points they earn according to the standard formula: A = 90-100, B = 80-90, C = 70-80, etc., with +'s and -'s given for the upper and lower third of each range, respectively. Based on the distribution of preliminary grades for all students (i.e., "the curve"), the instructor may increase these grades monotonically to calculate final grades. This means that your final grade can't be lower than your preliminary grade, and your final grade won't be higher than that of anyone who had a higher preliminary grade.

I will try to keep you informed about your standing throughout the semester. If you have any questions about grading or expectations at any time, please feel free to ask me.

Data Structures and Algorithms in C++ (3rd ed. or 4th ed.), Adam Drozdek. Will be at the textbook store Aug. 29, but I don't recommend buying it unless you can get a cheap used version. Other options:

• 3rd edition Amazon $53.49 e-book rental, $25.25 hardcover rental
• 4th edition: Amazon $67.49 e-book rental, $44.93 hardcover rental
• 4th edition: Publisher (Cengage) $67.49 e-book rental, $44.99 hardcover rental

Code examples from the book can be downloaded here

• Access UD compute machines remotely. hoek.eecis.udel.edu runs Linux and strauss.udel.edu runs SunOS. The latter typically requires some Makefile path changes.
• A very basic option for playing around, which is not enough for homeworks, is an online C++ shell. Try it!
• Run Linux on your own Windows/MacOS laptop/desktop. I recommend Ubuntu desktop (version 12.04 or 14.04). If you don't have a Linux distribution already, there are 3 standard approaches:
  • Install Linux to a DVD or USB stick and run it "live" by booting your machine from it (details in Ubuntu install instructions). This may require fiddling with your BIOS boot order settings, but it offers the advantages of (a) not changing your hard drive at all, and (b) theoretically you can walk up to any machine and run Linux on it. Unfortunately the Spencer 010 machines will not boot from the USB port without an admin password, but a DVD should work.
  • Add a boot-time Linux option (aka "dual-booting"). This is pretty easy and built into the Ubuntu installer (again, see Ubuntu install instructions). Usually I make a USB stick first to test that everything works on my machine (trackpad/mouse buttons, wifi, graphics drivers, and power button/lid closing are the most common issues with laptops), and then inside Ubuntu there is an option to install it to the hard drive permanently.
  • Create a virtual machine, which lets you run Linux from within Windows or MacOS without rebooting. Performance is generally slower than the above options, but for CISC 220 it should be entirely acceptable. Here are two free options:
    • VirtualBox. I found these instructions helpful when setting up VirtualBox for Ubuntu. If you have VirtualBox with Ubuntu left over from CPEG 202, I recommend doing a fresh install -- several students had problems trying to reuse this installation. If you are having trouble with low screen resolution, try this fix
    • VMWare, an alternative if/when VirtualBox doesn't work for you

After Ubuntu is installed, you need to make sure there's a C++ compiler and a text editor or integrated development environment (IDE) as well:

• In Ubuntu, apt-get install g++ will install the compiler and related basic libraries
• gedit is Ubuntu's built-in text editor and is what will open if you double-click a code file in the file explorer. It has syntax highlighting and should work just fine.
• xemacs is my old-school text editor of choice. It has mouse-and-menu options like gedit, but also keyboard shortcuts to speed things up. apt-get install xemacs21 to get it, and untar this in your home directory to get one flavor of syntax highlighting. Here's a getting started guide
• Code::Blocks and Eclipse are cross-platform, full-featured IDEs for C++ and geany is an Ubuntu coding-oriented text editor with IDE features. I will not explain how to install or use them beyond what is written below, but feel free to try them if just a bare-bones text editor doesn't do it for you.
  • Code::Blocks: Make a new C++ project of type "Console Application" and follow the wizard instructions to name it, choose a directory, etc. Once it's created, put the CISC220-supplied main.cpp and any .txt files into the project directory, overwriting the Code::Blocks-created main.cpp. To compile, choose "Build and run" from the "Build" menu. If the program expects command-line input (like the name of a file to read), go to the Project / Set Programs' Arguments menu and type the filename or whatever into the Program Arguments text box.

Further links for help in Unix:

• To invoke the terminal (aka command line) in Ubuntu, click on the Ubuntu icon in the upper-left of the start bar to bring up the "dashboard". Type "terminal" in the search box and an icon for the terminal app will appear. Click this, or you can drag it to the start bar so it's always there. Once you are in the terminal, here is a tutorial on commands, but the key ones are:
  • ls: List directory contents. This tells you what files and subdirectories are in the current directory.
  • cd: Change directory. This is how you move around between directories/folders. cd all by itself takes you back to your home directory, cd <name of subdirectory> takes you down to a subdirectory of the one you're in, and cd .. takes you up to the next higher-level directory.
• tar/untar
  • General instructions here. You can do both operations from the file explorer: right-click on a tar file and choose "Extract Here", or right-click on a directory and choose "Compress".
  • To untar a file named foo.tar from the command line: tar -xvf foo.tar while you are in the same directory as foo.tar
  • To tar a directory named foo into a a tarfile named foo.tar: tar -cvf foo.tar foo while you are at the directory level ABOVE foo.

• To enroll: http://piazza.com/udel/fall2014/cisc220
• After you enroll: http://piazza.com/udel/fall2014/cisc220/home

• 010 (9:30 am lecture)
• 011 (11 am lecture)

C++ for Java programmers cheat sheets: [1], [2]
cplusplus.com tutorial: Basics, Program Structure, Compound Data Types

cplusplus.com tutorial: Classes I & II, Special Members

cplusplus.com tutorial: Classes II, STL reference

Register/add deadline

Withdraw deadline

Wikipedia entry, UW slides (first 5 pages of PDF)
Optional: Princeton slides

Optional: Path-finding tutorial (stop at "Heuristic search")

Optional: Sorting algorithms animated