A goal of the course is to introduce the concepts behind the analysis of algorithms. The student will be able to

• Give a big-Oh analysis of a simple algorithm
• Explain the difference in algorithmic efficiencies among various sorting and search algorithms
• Explain the differences in algorithmic efficiencies of various operations on linked lists and arrays
• Explain how some algorithms with apparently poor performance might be better choices than those with better performance analyses

A goal of the course is to introduce fundamental data structures and their abstract data types. The student will be able to

• Modify abstract data types for lists, stacks, and queues
• Design simple abstract data types for other data structures

A goal of the course is to introduce trees as a natural storage device. The student will be able to

• Trace level order, preorder, inorder, and postorder traversals of binary trees
• Trace the implementation of searching a binary search tree
• Trace the implementation of inserting an item into a binary search tree
• Trace the implementation of deleting and item from a binary search tree

• Trace the insertion of and search for items in a hash table
• Evaluate the qualities of various hash functions
• Evaluate the qualities of various collision resolution strategies

• Trace the topological sort algorithm on directed, acyclic graphs
• Trace Dijkstra's Algorithm on positively weighted graphs
• Explain at least two different minimum spanning tree algorithms on weighted graphs
• Apply stacks and queues to tree traversals
• Trace both breadth-first and depth first tree traversal algorithms