1 Course Description

1.1 When and Where

1.2 Objectives:

This course explores data structures, algorithms for manipulating them, and the practical problems of implementing those structures in real programming languages and environments. Heavy emphasis is placed upon the analysis of algorithms to characterize their worst and average case requirements for running time and memory.

Perhaps more than any other course, CS361 should expand the students “toolbox” of basic techniques for manipulating data at both the conceptual and the concrete level. At the conceptual level, the student will see a broad selection of standard practices and approaches used in program design. At the concrete level, the student will begin what should be a career-long practice of accumulating useful, reusable code units.

2 Basic Information

2.1 Instructor

Important: All email related to this course should have the phrase “CS361” somewhere in the subject line. This flags your message in my mailbox for faster attention. Omit this, and your message may get lost amid the ton of daily spam and ODU administrative messages I get each day.

I try to respond to all (properly marked) messages within 24 hours M-F, within 48 on weekends & holidays.

2.1.1 Office Hours

2.3 Course Prerequisites

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The prerequisites for this course are:

2.4 Computer Accounts

Students will need two network accounts to participate in this class:

2.5 Software Requirements

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2.5.1 Required

• Web browser: Most up-to-date web browsers should suffice for this course. Chrome and Firefox are recommended. Internet Explorer and Safari are discouraged.

Your browser will need to run Javascript, particularly when taking self-assessments, quizzes and exams, which are hosted on the ODU BlackBoard system.

3 Course Policies

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3.1 Due Dates:

3.2 Academic Honesty:

Everything turned in for grading in this course must be your own work.

The instructor reserves the right to question a student orally or in writing and to use his evaluation of the student’s understanding of the assignment and of the submitted solution as evidence of cheating. Violations will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct & Academic Integrity for consideration for possible punitive action.

Students who contribute to violations by sharing their code/designs with others may be subject to the same penalties.

Students are expected to use standard Unix protection mechanisms (chmod) to keep their assignments from being read by their classmates. Failure to do so will result in grade penalties, at the very least.

This policy is not intended to prevent students from providing legitimate assistance to one another. Students are encouraged to seek/provide one another aid in learning to use the operating system, in issues pertaining to the programming language, or to general issues relating to the course subject matter.

Students should avoid, however, explicit discussion of approaches to solving a particular programming assignment, and under no circumstances should students show one another their code for an ongoing assignment, nor discuss such code in detail.

Use of Online Resources

You may not post details of course assignments, projects, or tests at online Forums, Bulletin Boards, Homework sites, etc., soliciting help.

You may use information that you have not solicited but have located, subject to the following restrictions:

• Just as when writing a paper, if you use someone else’s ideas, you must cite your sources appropriately. Within code, such citations appear in comments.

  Example:

  ⋮
  double x = 23.0;
  double xsqrt = sqrt(x);
  // Search algorithm based upon code by S Zeil at
  // https://www.cs.odu.edu/~zeil/cs361/latest/Public/functionAnalysis/index.html#orderedsequentialsearch
  int loc = 0;
  while (loc < arraySize && numbers[loc] < xsqrt)
  ⋮
  

• Just as when writing a paper, if you use someone else’s words (code), you must cite your sources appropriately and mark the quoted text. Within code, such citations appear in comments.

  Example:

  ⋮
  double x = 23.0;
  double xsqrt = sqrt(x);
  // Begin quoted code from  S Zeil at
  // https://www.cs.odu.edu/~zeil/cs361/latest/Public/functionAnalysis/index.html#orderedsequentialsearch
  int loc = 0;
  while (loc < listLength && list[loc] < searchItem)
     {
      ++loc;
     }
  // End quoted code  
  ⋮
  

• Failure to appropriately cite any such “found code” will be taken as evidence of plagiarism.

• The overall principle stated in the first sentence of this section remains in effect. “Everything turned in for grading in this course must be your own work.” If the bulk of your assignment, project, test answer, etc., are copied, even with appropriate citation, to the degree that, in the judgment of the instructor, you have not demonstrated your own knowledge of the course material, you will receive a zero for that submission.

3.3 Grading:

The lowest assignment/quiz grade and the lower of the first two exams will be dropped before computing your overall score.

4 Educational Accessibility:

Old Dominion University is committed to ensuring equal access to all qualified students with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Office of Educational Accessibility (OEA) is the campus office that works with students who have disabilities to provide and/or arrange reasonable accommodations.

• If you experience a disability which will impact your ability to access any aspect of the course, present me with an accommodation letter from OEA so that we can work together to ensure that appropriate accommodations are available to you.

• If you feel that you will experience barriers to your ability to learn and/or complete examinations in the course but do not have an accommodation letter, consider scheduling an appointment with OEA to determine if academic accommodations are necessary.