CS 367 - Introduction to Data Structures - Section 3

Programming Assignment Four: Final Project

Due dates: see below

Contents

• The Assignment
• Project Topics
• Groups
• Important Dates
• Requirements
• Demonstrations
• Grading
• Submitting
• Solution
• Late policy

The Assignment

At last, a chance to show off your creativity! For the final project, you will work in small groups and write a program involving some of the concepts discussed in the second half of the semester. The exact nature of your project will be determined by you and the other members of your group. Project topics should be selected from the project list. You may choose a project not on the list, but you must obtain instructor approval prior to December 2.

There are several possible projects listed below. The projects at the top of the list are most directly related to material covered in class. If you feel that you have had or are having some difficulty grasping material covered in the second half of the course, definitely do one these projects --- it will help solidify your knowledge of the material and assist in preparation for the final exam. The projects further down on the list are not necessarily more difficult, but involve new or novel ideas.

Some of the projects require auxiliary reading; some require reading ahead in order to start now.

In all cases, a project is, in some sense, an open ended grade. If you meet the basic requirement for the final project, it will count just like any other programming project. However, you can add to your project as much as you'd like, so, a great deal of extra credit is possible. If you have been dissatisfied with your grades thus far, now is your chance.

Project Topics

• Trees: In class, on the homework, and in the text book, we have seen several different varieties of trees. For this project you will compare the properties of several of these kinds of tree structures. You will need need to:
  • add the remove operation to the AVL class template (extend Programming Assignment Three)
  • implement b-trees as described in Main & Savitch
  • write a test program that will compare the efficiencies of binary search trees, red-black trees, AVL trees, and b-trees (and splay trees if you are doing the extra credit). Your test program should allow comparisons of the heights of the trees and average number of operations required to do searches. Alternatively, you may write your program to use Unix system calls to report timings.
  Extra credit suggestion: also implement and compare the performance of splay trees --- contact me and I will give you documentation on splay trees.



• Sorting: In class and on the homework we have seen many different ways to sort data. In this project you will compare several sorting algorithms. You will need to:
  • implement a hash (bucket) sort (see here)
  • implement shell sort (see here)
  • implement sorting using an ordered tree
  • write a test program that will compare the efficiencies of selection sort, insertion sort, quick sort, merge sort, heap sort, and the new sorts you have implemented.
  Extra credit suggestion: the more different sorts implemented and compared the better.



• Hashing and function pointers: Implement a hash table class template that allows for different tables to be constructed according to different hash functions. You can use an interface much like that described in Main & Savitch (pp. 549--550). Include a constructor that takes a function pointer (a pointer to a hash function) and the appropriate private members. Write a test program to compare the performance of different hash functions.



• Graphs: there are many possible projects involving graphs, each beginning by implementing a graph class and operations (via external or internal iterators) allowing for depth-first and breadth-first traversals.
  
  
  • Varying implementations: Implement several versions of a graph class using adjacency-matrix, edge-list, and edge-set representations. Write a test program to compare the relative efficiencies for these implementations.
  
  
  
  • Write a reachability operation that given two nodes, i and j, determines whether there exists a path in the graph from i to j. Write an operation that given node i, return a list or set of all the nodes reachable from i. Write an operation that computes a reachability matrix so future reachability queries can be answered in constant time. Include a test program.
  
  
  
  • Implement a version of the graph class (perhaps by using inheritance) that allows for information to be stored at the edges as well as the nodes. A weighted graph is a graph with a number associated with each edge. Recall, a spanning tree is a tree consisting of all the nodes in a graph and a collection of edges from the graph that connect the nodes to make a tree (no loops). A minimum spanning tree of a weighted graph is a spanning tree of a graph such that the sum of all the weights along the edges of the tree is less than or equal to the sum of the weights along the edges of any other spanning tree for that graph. Write an operation to compute the minimum spanning tree of a weighted graph.
  
  
  
  • A shortest path between nodes i and j in a graph is a path from i to j such that the sum of the weights of the edges along the path is less than or equal to the sum of the weights along the edges of any other path from i to j. (In a graph without edge weights, we can pretend each edge has a weight of 1 and then a shortest path from i to j refers to a path from i to j with the fewest edges.) Write an operation to compute the shortest path between any two nodes in a graph.
  
  
  
  You can, of course, mix and match various aspects of these graph projects.



• Binary trees, iterators, and inheritance: Write an external iterator class for our (or your own) binary tree class. The iterator should have a similar interface as our list iterators --- advance, back, reset, isEnd, etc. The iterator should allow a walk to occur in some order as long as if the iterator is reset, and then advance is called repeatedly until isEnd becomes true then every node in the tree should be visited exactly once. Use inheritance to derive different types of iterators from the your base iterator class. For example, if you have a base iterator class TreeIter, then you should derive classes like PreOrderIter (traverses in pre-order) from TreeIter. Your project should include a test program which demonstrates the different iterations that you have defined.



• More amazed: Enhance the amazed game. Focus on improving the representation of the maze. Try to use a graph data structure as an underlying representation for the maze rather than the simple array I used.



• Abstract datatypes in ML: This project is designed to expose you to an entirely different programming language, called Standard ML. There is lots of on-line documentation about ML, for example, see:
  • "gentle intro"
  • tutorials
  For this project you will spend part of the time learning this new language and part of the time implementing in ML several of the data types we've implemented in class in C++. Part of the goal of the project will be to notice which aspects of programming abstract datatypes are easier and which are more difficult in the two languages (C++ and ML).

  To run the Standard ML compiler environment, you can type:

  ~cs367-3/public/bin/ml
  

Groups

Target size for groups is three people. I will allow groups of up to four and as small as two. Part of the point of the project is to learn to work with others. Solo projects will be allowed, but require instructor permission prior to December 2. In order to make demonstration scheduling `reasonable', I would like to have no more than 25 groups total.

Choosing the group that's right for you: Please work with people who are at the same level of experience (or feel the same level of ease) with using C++. I expect groups to divide the work fairly among group members

Remember, the idea of working in a group is to divide the labor --- it is expected that each member of the group will have worked on at least one aspect of the project by herself/himself.

Important Dates

1. Group sign up: sign up for what project you are doing and who you are doing it with by Tuesday, 12/2.
2. Progress report : I must receive, by e-mail, a progress report from each group (not each student) by Sunday 12/7 at 4pm. This is crucial (see grading below) so that I may make sure that you are on the right track.
3. Demo sign up: sign up for when your group will demonstrate the project by Tuesday, 12/9. (Demonstrations will take place between 12/15 and 12/19.)
4. Individual summary: due at or before the final exam. You need to turn in a sketch of what aspect of the project you did. This should be brief, but clear. A paragraph is fine; more than a page is too long. Click here to see an example individual summary.
5. Preliminary code submission: A version of your code must be submitted electronically twenty-four hours prior to the scheduled demonstration time. The final version of the code will be submitted at demonstration time.
6. Group summary: to be turned in at demonstration time. An overview of what the purpose of your project was, what was learned, what techniques were used, and what makes your project special. A few paragraphs is fine; more than two pages is too long.

Demonstrations

Demonstrations will take place at the following times:

Monday    (12/15) from 11am-1pm
Tuesday   (12/16) from 11am-1pm and 2pm-4pm
Wednesday (12/17) from 11am-1pm
Thursday  (12/18) from 11am-1pm and 2pm-4pm
Friday    (12/19) from 11am-1pm

You must sign up for a demonstration in advance. Sign up by sending me e-mail. All group members must attend the demonstration.

If you cannot make any of the above times, let me know ASAP.

Time will be alloted for demonstrations based on the number of people participating in the project, roughly five minutes per person. You must be prepared to show me all the features of your project within the alloted amount of time. Please practice in advance. All group members should be ready to answer any questions relevant to their project.

Requirements

• Submit a progress report
• Submit a group summary
• Submit two versions of code - one twenty-four hours prior to demonstration time, one at demonstration time (the two versions need not be different)
• Demonstrate the program

• Submit an individual summary
• Attend the demonstration

Grading

• 5% for progress report. However, failure to submit your progress report reserves the instructor the right to take off up to 50% of your final grade.
• 10% for individual summary.
• 10% for group summary.
• 25% for final source code. (No points will be explicilty based on the first version of code submitted --- however, failure to submit the first version twenty-four hours prior to demonstration time reserves the instructor the right to take off up to 50% of your final grade.)
• 50% for demonstration.

For more information on grading policy, click here.

Submitting

Final project submission directories are now available.

As usual, the naming convention is:

  ~cs367-3/Submissions/Four/

  ~cs367-3/Submissions/Four/md

  ~cs367-3/Submissions/Four/siff

  md trees siff