58131-8 Data Structures: Course plan for Spring 2000

NB: This is a preliminary plan.

This course is a compulsory part of the Cum laude approbatur module. It
yields four credit units. It introduces main storage data structures and and
the different methods of implementing them. We will train the ability to
judge how good an algorithm is. The programming language used is Java.

Before attending this course, you should have completed the courses
Introduction to Programming and Programming in Java, and possess the skills
taught at those courses. If you have made the programming exercises, it will
help you to understand the course, and probably heighten your motivation.

The home page of the course is at the adress
http://www.cs.Helsinki.FI/~wikla/Tira/.
The newsgroup is at hy.opiskelu.tktl.tira. It will be useful for you to keep
up with the WWW pages and the newsgroup.

The lectures will be held on January 18 - March 29 on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays, 2 - 4 pm in the Auditorium.

In part, the course will be based on the book
- Mark Allen Weiss: Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in Java. Addison
Wesley Longman, Inc., 1999.

There are other versions (Pascal, C, C++, Ada) of the book, as well. They
are probably nearly as useful as the Java version. Some of the course
material will eventually be available as WWW pages. You are expected to have
the Java language skills taught at the course Programming in Java.

Further reading for the interested:
- Mark Allen Weiss: Data Structures and Problem Solving Using Java.
Addison-Wesley, 1998.
- Goodrich and Tamassia: Data Structures and Algorithms in Java. John Wiley
& Sons, 1998.

Exercise groups meet each week January 24 - April 7. See Finnish version for
group division.

The exercise groups deal with homework. Most of them have to be done on a
computer. From the exercises, you may get points that affect your grade. The
maximum of points is 10, to be had if you complete at least 5/6 of the
homework. When you have completed about 1/3 of the homework, you will get
the first extra point. Points are given for solutions that the student is
prepared to present at the exercise sessions. For some exercises, you may
have to hand in a written presentation to the instructor of the exercise
group.

The exams are on:
1. Friday March 3, at 2 - 5 pm, Porthania I
2. Thursday April 13, at 10 am - 1 pm, Main Building, room 1

At the most, the exams give 50 points, in adition to the 10 from the
exercises. You must get at least 25 points in each exam!

     1. exam   25
     2. exam   25
     exercises 10
              ---
     Total     60