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Syllabus

Overview

This is a class about data structures. You learned the basics of coding in your previous CS classes; now we'll talk about how your data is laid out in memory and how to organize it efficiently. We'll talk about abstract data structures like sequences, heaps, sets, and maps; the concrete data structures used to implement them, like vectors, binary trees, and hash tables; the performance of the concrete implementations; and how to use these structures to solve problems.

This is also a C++ class, but we won't focus too much on C++ syntax. You'll pick that up for yourself as you do the programming assignments. Come to lab sections or ask on Piazza if you have language questions!

Materials

Everything in this class is optional except the programming assignments. I don't take attendance. Lecture notes will be available on GitHub. There is no required reading. There is no textbook. Everything we talk about in this class is common computer science material, and you can find it online in whatever format you like best. If you prefer learning from textbooks, here are some possibilities:

  • Data Structures and Other Objects Using C++ by Michael Main and Walter Savitch
    This used to be the standard textbook for other CS 24 courses.
  • Problem Solving with C++ by Walter Savitch
    This is an optional textbook for other CS 24 courses. It's also the standard textbook for CS 32.
  • Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C++ by Mark Allen Weiss
    This is the standard textbook for CS 130A.

Grading

Your entire grade comes from programming assignments. There will be about nine programming assignments over the quarter - one per week - all (roughly) equally weighted.

You may turn in any assignment up to five days late, but at a penalty of eight percent per day. An assignment due on Monday can be turned in on Tuesday for at most a 92%, on Wednesday for at most an 84%, and so on. It cannot be turned in on Sunday or later.

I may decide to curve the class; if I do, this will apply to your cumulative scores at the end of the quarter, and will only be in your favor. Getting 90% of the possible points guarantees you at least an A-, 80% a B-, and so on.

Coding

This is a C++ class, so you'll be coding in C++. We'll be using C++ 17 (C++ 23 is the latest standard), so compile your code with the -std=c++17 flag. Your code must compile with no warnings. Use the -Wall, -Wextra, and -Werror flags to enforce this. The full compilation command also enables debug symbols and allows unused function arguments (to make stubbing less painful):

g++ -std=c++17 -g -Wall -Wextra -Werror -Wno-unused-parameter ...

Your code must also run without any memory errors: things like memory leaks, use of uninitialized variables, out-of-bounds reads or writes, etc. To ensure this, the autograder will run your programs in Valgrind, a memory error detector. To replicate this, use the following command (Linux-only, but should work in WSL):

valgrind --leak-check=full -- ./myprogram arg1 arg2 ...

These commands can be a bit verbose; you are encouraged to write Makefiles and save yourself some typing.

Your assignments will be auto-graded on Gradescope, which is currently running GCC 11.4.0 in Ubuntu 22.04 containers. Code written on other platforms may need slight tweaking to compile correctly on Gradescope. In particular, Mac users may need to include more header files.

Piazza

We'll be using Piazza as a Q&A forum. If you have a question that might apply to other people as well, it's better to ask on Piazza than to send an email.

If you ask coding questions on Piazza, please:

  • Post the smallest section of code that fully describes your problem.
  • Include any code as a code snippet. Not a screenshot. Not a cell phone photo.
  • In Markdown mode, use triple backticks (```) to format code blocks.
  • If you include more than a few lines of your code, make your question private.

Cheating

All assignments are individual assignments. Write your own code. In fact, since this is a high-level class where we talk about abstract data structures, you should be able to discuss everything we do without ever sharing any code! If you do decide to share code, remember that these penalties apply to all parties:

  • First Offense: Zero on the assignment and final grade lowered by one letter.
  • Second Offense: Fail the class.

The programming assignments are involved enough that it's virtually impossible for anyone to have the same code as you by accident. As long as you write your own code you have nothing to worry about.