CSC 172
Introduction to Algorithms and Data Structures

Dr. Stephen Bloch

Spring, 2002

The syllabus

Schedule

Homework Assignments

What's this course about?

Software support

We'll be programming this semester in C++. I don't particularly care what compiler or development environment you use. Microsoft's Visual C++ is installed on many of the microcomputers on campus (Windows only; apparently Microsoft doesn't want Macintosh or Linux users to buy its software. Or maybe Microsoft doesn't know there are Macintosh and Linux users in the world....) I'm also having the computing center install Borland's C++ compiler and a development environment named jGRASP, both of which can be downloaded legally for free. The jGRASP package is written in Java (in fact, it can be used to program in Java and Ada as well as C++), so it requires that you first install Java. If you just want to use jGRASP in C++, you can get away with downloading only the Java run-time environment; if you plan to try your hand at Java as well, and you have disk space to spare, you might as well download the whole development kit.

Getting Help

• Monday/Friday 10:00-12:00
• Tuesday/Thursday 1:00-4:00
• Other days and times by appointment.

We also have several tutors capable of helping with this course: Tutor Chane Kampanatsanyakorn's office hours (in Alumnae 112 or 118) are Wednesday 11:00 AM-12:00 noon, Thursday 3:00-5:00 PM, and Friday 1:00-2:00 PM.
Various computer science tutors in the Learning Center (Earle Hall, lower level) are on duty Monday through Friday from 9:00-11:30 AM.

Reading Assignments

• Read (and use!) the Design Recipe(s).
• Skim my Adages on Software Engineering and Object-Oriented Programming.
• On Pair Programming: read
  All I Really Need to Know about Pair Programming I Learned in Kindergarten (this paper is also on the lab's H: drive), and
  the Extreme Programming page on Pair Programming
• Different people learn (and teach) in different ways. Try taking a Learning Styles Questionnaire to discover your own style and get some tips on how to handle classes taught in a different style. If you're having trouble with the way I explain things, it could just be that I'm strongly intuitive and you're strongly sensitive (or something like that); point it out to me, and I'll try to find another way to explain.
• More generally, skim through the various sections of Extreme Programming

Examples

Textbooks

For supplementary material on the C++ language, I've ordered Bjarne Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language, third edition. This is not a textbook, but rather a reference for programmers who already know one or two other languages, but don't know C++. A "Special Edition" came out in 2000, but if you have the third (1997) edition, you can use that instead. The Special Edition is available from amazon.com, bn.com, or fatbrain.com for $60, or from bookpool.com for $47.50.

As another supplementary text, we'll use Watts Humphrey's Introduction to the Personal Software Process. This book treats not ``how to program'' but rather ``how to be a programmer''; exercises in this book will help you study your own skills and abilities, discover your own strong and weak points, improve your time-management skills (especially, though not exclusively, in relation to programming), and become more efficient. It's available from amazon.com, bn.com, or fatbrain.com for $25, or from bookpool.com for $20.

For further reading...

• Object Oriented Programming FAQ
• my CSC 172 class last fall
• my CSC 172 class last spring
• The Adelphi Help Desk page
• The Free Online Dictionary of Computing.
• The Association for Computing Machinery, the premiere professional organization for computer scientists. The site includes career services, the student programming contest, a student magazine, information on student membership, and lots more.