CMSC420 - Data Structures

Course Description

Description, properties, and storage allocation of data structures including lists and trees. Algorithms for manipulating structures. Applications from areas such as data processing, information retrieval, symbol manipulation, and operating systems.

Michelle Hugue | 0101

Day & Time	Location
MW 2:00PM - 3:15PM	CSI 2117

Course Prerequisite(s)
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in CMSC351 and CMSC330; and permission of CMNS-Computer Science department. Or must be in the (Computer Science (Doctoral), Computer Science (Master's)) program.

Class Webpage

Hours Per Week
The workload for this course is at least the 10 hours associated with a 3 credit class. Programming and debugging skills, or a lack thereof, make it hard to give a decent estimate here.

Languages Used
JAVA

Recommended Prior Experience

Projects, Exams, or other Assessments

Misc Info
We often refer to this course as "data structures in context." The class presents a practical approach to data structures for computer intensive products that can be proven to satisfy correctness and performance requirements. One can obtain almost any data structure from a book or online. However, it takes experience to identify data structures known to provide the desired behavior; to extend them to satisfy the specific application; and to evaluate the deliverables to show that they satisfy the composite standard and custom requirements. The lectures, the project (three linked parts) and the exams are designed to provide students with such experience. This includes having projects which require sustained effort rather than last minute code-a-thons, exams written to elicit knowledge, not empty verbiage, and course policies which reward hard work and learning from mistakes. To put it bluntly, I'll do my best to help you to make mistakes and then support your efforts to learn from them. This is a thinking class, not an echo information class.

Larry Davis | 0102

Day & Time	Location
MW 3:30PM - 4:45PM	CSI 2117

Venkatramanan Subrahmanian | 0301

Day & Time	Location
TuTh 11:00AM - 12:15PM	CSI 2117

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