PLDS210
Programming Languages and Data Structures
Course Synopsis
This course will focus on data structures and algorithms
for manipulating them.
Data structures for storing information in
tables, lists, trees, queues and stacks will be covered.
Some basic graph and discrete transform algorithms will
also be discussed.
You will also be introduced to some basic principles of software
engineering: good programming practice for "long-life" software.
For a full list of topics to be covered, view the
table of contents page for
the lecture notes.
Lecture Notes
A set of notes for this course is available on the Web.
From the
table of contents page
you can jump to any section of the course.
Textbooks
The material on data structures and algorithms may be found in many
texts: lists of reference books in the library are part of the
Web notes.
The Web notes are, of necessity, abbreviated and should not be
considered a substitute for studying the material in texts.
Web browsers
Web browsers have varying capabilities:
the notes were checked with Netscape 2 -
but should read intelligently with other browsers.
If you have problems, I would be interested to know
about them, but please note that updating these notes,
adding new animations and improving the animations
have priority:
please direct complaints about browser incompatibilities
to the authors of them who are not able to conform to
the weak standards that do exist.
Using the notes
The notes make use of the hypertext capabilities of Web
browsers: you will find highlighted links to subsidiary
information scattered throughout the text.
Occasionally these links will point to Web resources which
may be located off campus and take some time to download:
you may find it productive to use the "Stop" facility on
the browser to abort the current fetch - you can try again
later when the Net is less heavily loaded.
In all cases, the browser's "Back" command should take you
back to the original page.
Program source
Example source code for programs will sometimes pop up in
a separate window.
This is to enable you to scan the code while referring to the
notes in the main page. You will probably need to move the
source code page out of the way of the main page.
When you have finished with the source code page,
select File:Close
to close the window.
Selecting File:Exit
will close the window
and exit from Netscape - possibly not your intention!
Tutorials - 1997
Exercises for the tutorials and laboratory sessions are also
found in the Web pages.
Assignment reports
Each assignment submission should be accompanied by a
summary report. The report should be clear and concise:
it is unlikely that you will need to write more than 2 A4
pages (or about 120 lines of text).
Report Format
The report should be in plain ASCII text.
The 'native form' of any wordprocessor will be rejected.
If you prefer to use a word processor to prepare your report,
then ensure that you export a plain text file for submission
when you have finished: all word-processors have this capability.
This allows you to concentrate on the content of the report,
rather than the cosmetics of its format.
However, the general standards for report structure and
organisation
(title, authors, introduction, body grouped into related
paragraphs, conclusion, etc) expected for any other unit
apply here also.
Communication
This course attempts to be "paperless" as much as possible!
Assignments will be submitted electronically and
comments will be emailed back to you.
Please ensure that your reports include email addresses of
all authors.
The preferred method for communication with the lecturer and
tutor(s) is, at least initially, email.
All routine queries will be handled this way: we will attempt to
respond to all email messages by the next day.
If you have more complex problems,
email for an appointment (suggest a few times when you will be
free).
You may of course try to find me in my office at any time
(but early in the morning is likely to be a waste of time),
but emailing for an appointment first ensures you some priority
and enables you to avoid wasting a trip to the 4th floor
when there may be zero probability of success!
Continue on the lecture notes.
© John Morris
, 2004