Tervetuloa tietojenkäsittelytieteen laitoksen lukuvuoden avajaisiin
perjantaina 6.9.2013!

OHJELMA:

klo 13:00

Tervetuloa uuteen lukuvuoteen/ laitoksen johtaja Esko Ukkonen

Luento/ Professori Bengt Aspvall: "Sorting Algorithms As Special Cases Of A Priority Queue Sort" *

Paikka: Exactum/ Linus Torvalds auditorio, 1 krs.

klo 14:00 >

HUOM MUUTOS: Tarjoilua 4. kerroksen kattoterassilla

TERVETULOA!

* Sorting Algorithms As Special Cases Of A Priority Queue Sort

We revisit the main sorting algorithms in a novel way. Our approach offers a review and exercise after the algorithms have been taught to students. It is done in a way that emphasizes relationships between the sorting algorithms, and shows how considering abstraction and extreme cases can lead to the generation of new algorithms.

A number of authors (including textbook authors) have noted particular relationships between algorithms, such as an uneven split in merge sort being equivalent to insertion sort. We use a flexible priority queue, the d-heap, to derive three common sorting algorithms. We combine this with using a binary search tree as a priority queue, plus prior observations in the literature, to show strong relationships between the main sorting algorithms that appear in textbooks.

Using this approach students are able to revisit a number of algorithms and data structures and explore elegant relationships between them. This approach can also lead to exercises and exam questions that go beyond desk-checking to evaluate students’ understanding of these algorithms.(based on Bell & Aspvall, SIGCSE 2011)