Overview

This is a undergraduate level course in data structures. The course in intended for developing foundations in data structures with a focus on solving problems and building core data structures. The broader goal is to understand how data strucres are leveraged in problems and tasks that have a relevance to realistic situations. Throughout the course, large emphasis will be placed on tying data structure building techniques, their underlying concept and mathematical constructs to specific applications through hands-on experience.

Administrative details

If class is full or you are a non-CS major, please register as a waitlist student or UHCS undergraduate academic advisor to be added to the waitlist. Depending upon several admin factors if course enrollment is increased, students will be enrolled according to the initial wait list order.

Office hours

Instructor office hours: M 2.30 - 3.30 PM, MS Teams (please schedule and wait in queue) or by Appointment (please schedule at least 4 days in advance)
TA office hours: Sadat Shahriar (sshahria@CougarNet.UH.EDU) Thu 3-5 PM, Fri 3-4 PM; Navid Ayoobi (nayoobi@cougarnet.uh.edu) Wed 9-11 AM


Prerequisites

The course requires background in mathematics and sufficient programming skills. It expects the student has completed COSC 1430 with at least a C grade. Sufficient programming experience is required.

Reading Materials

Textbook:
Goodrich, M. T., Tamassia, R., Goldwasser, M. H. Data Structures and Algorithms in C++, Second Edition.

Required Reference Material:
Course materials (contains all Lecture notes, slides and a full length sample exam)
Syllabus
Competitive Programming Handbook for Data Structures (additional textbook)
Math Background for Data Structures [Chapters 1, 5, 6, 9]


Grading

Component	Contribution	Due date
HW 1	15%	9/11
HW 2	15%	9/28
HW 3	15%	10/16
HW 4	15%	11/3
HW 5	15%	11/24
EC Project - Building a Search Engine	30%	12/2
Exams 1, 2	15%, 15%	10/18, TBA
Classwork/Lab	10%	-
Attendance	5%	-

Rules and policies

Late Assignments: Late assignments will not, in general, be accepted. They will never be accepted if the student has not made special arrangements with me at least one week before the assignment is due. It also needs to be a justifiable reason owing to exacting circumstances. If a late assignment is accepted it is subject to a reduction in score as a late penalty.
Cheating: All submitted work (code, homeworks, exams, etc.) must be your own. If evidence of code sharing is found, you will receive an F grade in the course. Please refer to the student handbook for details on academic honesty
Statute of limitations: Grading questions or complaints or revaluation, will in general not be attended to beyond one week after the item in question has been returned.

Schedule of topics