Comp 116 - Spring 2021

Welcome to Comp 116.

Catalog Descritpion: An introduction to the theoretical and practical aspects of data structures. Emphasis is on abstract data types and the use of the C++ class mechanism to support their implementations. Examples include stacks, queues, linked lists, binary search trees and general trees and their applications. Pointers and recursion are used in some implementations. Three hours of lecture and a two-hour laboratory per week.

Course Basics

Lecture:	Mon-Wed-Fri 10:30AM-11:20AM, Science Center 1315
Lab:	Wednesday 3:30PM - 5:20PM, Science Center 1141

Instructor:	Martin Gagné
Email:	lastname_firstname at wheatoncollege dot edu
Office:	Science Center 1323
Drop in Hours:	Monday 3:30PM-4:30PM Tuesday 10:30AM-12:00PM Thursday 2:30PM-4:00PM and by appointment
Tutors:	Jacob Libby Monday 2:30PM-4:30PM Andrew Samost Tuesday 7:00PM-9:00PM Jackson Reed Wednesday 4:00PM-6:00PM Consult the Tutoring Website for the procedures to contact the tutors during their sessions.

Course Textbook

There is no required textbook for the course, but the following can be a useful reference:

C++ Programming: Program Design Including Data Structures by D.S. Malik.

You could also have a look at this other textbook that is freely available if you want an additional reference:

Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C++ by Clifford A. Shaffer. Available in PDF.

The first one will be used as the main textbook for the course, and I will occasional post suggested readings. It is a pretty solid reference both for the C++ language and the data structures we will cover in the course.
The second book explores only data structures and algorithms (also in C++) and is useful for coming at the material from a different view point than lecture.

In addition, you may want to use A Transition Guide from Python 2.x to C++ by Michael Goldwasser and David Letscher for the first week or two, it will highlight the differences between Python and C++.

Additional references

This course provides an introduction to object oriented programming as well as the C++ program language. Each could warrant their own course of study and we highly recommend you study them further. Some references of use:

The online C++ reference for when it's 3am and you can't remember how to use cout. A great source for looking up C++ routines with examples.
www.cplusplus.com, another very useful references on the C++ language. If you google a C++ language feature, this is the site that you will usually get as the frist link.
The tutorial from the site above. Be warned, it goes FAST, so it's really better as a reference than a tutorial.
How to Think Like a Computer Scientist, based on the work of Jeffrey Elkner, Allen B. Downey, and Chris Meyers, if you feel a bit nostalgic about the good old days of Comp 115 and Python. Not everything translates neatly to C++, but you may want to remember some of that stuff before seeing it again in C++.
Google. Seriously, it's a really good place to look for stuff, but make sure that you look for explanations, not for solutions (see section on Academic misconduct).

Comp 116: Data Structures

Announcements

Course Basics

Course Textbook

Additional references