1. Intro to CIT 594

2. Prerequisites The formal prerequisite is CIT 590 or CIT 591
CIT 591 was primarily a course in Java
If you did not take CIT
You must already know Java, including Swing
You must know how to write JUnit4 tests
You must be comfortable using Eclipse
You are expected to have good Java programming style
Other programming languages can not be used as a substitute for Java

3. What the course is about
There are four main, interrelated topics in CIT594:
Recursion
Data structures
Algorithms
Analysis of algorithms
We will continue to explore good programming techniques and programming style
It will also be necessary to cover more Java

4. Recommended Java reference
This is a good reference book
Java topics are covered in an independent fashion—you don’t have to read all previous sections first

5. Recommend algorithms references

6. Java Collections
Java Collections implement many of the most important data structures for you
A traditional data structures course would have you implement these yourself
I don’t believe in re-inventing the wheel
However, you need to know how these data structures are implemented, for the times when you need something more than Java gives you

7. Algorithms There are literally thousands of published algorithms
We will cover:
a few algorithms that are related to the data structures we are studying
a few more algorithms that your instructor especially likes
It’s almost always better to find an existing algorithm than to re-invent it yourself

8. Analysis of algorithms
Analysis of algorithms is a relatively small part of this course, but it’s an important part
Analysis can tell you how fast an algorithm will run, and how much space it will require
A good algorithm, even if badly coded, can run circles around a poor algorithm that is carefully tuned and highly optimized

9. Assignments Except as otherwise noted, all assignments:
Should be done in Eclipse
Should include complete JUnit tests for non-GUI, non-I/O methods, and
Should include complete javadoc documentation for non-private entities
Must be submitted via Blackboard; will not be accepted
There may (or may not) be some team assignments
Partners are assigned by the instructor
We do not have a laboratory section
You will do some assignments by yourself
You may discuss the assignments with other students
You may help (and get help with) debugging
You may not give your source code to anyone
Late assignments will lose 5 points per day, and may or may not be accepted if more than a week late

10. Grading We will have: Grades will be weighted as follows:
Approximately one assignment per week
One midterm
One final exam
Grades will be curved
We will use Blackboard to turn in assignments
Grades will be weighted as follows:
50% assignments
20% midterm
30% final exam
If you feel a grading error has been made, you have one week after grades have been posted to bring it to our attention

11. Office hours and (no) labs
I avoid making appointments
I have an open door policy: If my door is open, I’m available
Posted office hours are just the times that I try hard to be in my office, not the only times you can talk to me
The TAs will also have office hours
We will not have extra help sessions or labs this semester

12. The End