The evolution of data structures

Author

Harris, James ; Greca, Ardian

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., Georgia Southern Univ., Statesboro, GA, USA

fYear

2004

fDate

20-23 Oct. 2004

Abstract

For over 20 years, the data structures course has been a pillar of computer science programs at colleges and universities. This paper looks at how the data structures course has evolved over time from a course that emphasized algorithmic concepts to a course that emphasizes syntactical and design concepts. It illustrates how the evolution of programming languages and concepts can introduce "gratuitous" complexity into algorithms. Specific algorithms and abstract data types are compared in past and present data structures texts using a suite of software metrics. A comparison is performed between algorithms from data structures texts across different programming languages and across procedural and object oriented paradigms. The results are compared to provide evidence of how the course has evolved over time.

Keywords

computer science education; data structures; educational courses; programming languages; algorithmic concept; computer science program; data structures course evolution; object oriented paradigm; programming languages; software metrics; syntactic complexity; Algorithm design and analysis; Books; Computer languages; Computer science; Data structures; Educational institutions; Java; Programming profession; Software algorithms; Software metrics;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Frontiers in Education, 2004. FIE 2004. 34th Annual

ISSN

0190-5848

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8552-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FIE.2004.1408790

Filename

1408790