CPSC 327 Data Structures and Algorithms Spring 2026

CPSC 327 Schedule

Readings are listed on the schedule page on the day when they will be discussed in class. "ADM" refers to the textbook (The Algorithm Design Manual). Readings are the first introduction for most material — it often takes more than one encounter to fully absorb something, and class time is more effective if it can be used to fill in the gaps and answer questions about things you have already started to think about. You are encouraged to complete the assigned reading before class to identify the main ideas and note questions, and then revisit the reading after class to more fully understand the material.

Dates for things in light gray are for planning purposes and are subject to change.

 Assignments

Week 1: 1/21-1/23

Topics: course introduction; analysis of algorithms

  
Wed Materials from class: introductory survey
(on Canvas)		    
Fri Reading:
  • ADM 2.1-2.4 (RAM model of computation, big-Oh, growth rates and dominance relations, working with big-Oh)
Materials from class: 		     

Week 2: 1/26-1/30

Topics: analysis of algorithms; standard ADTs and basic data structures

  
Mon Reading: Materials from class:    
Wed Reading: Materials from class:
  • slides: analysis of algorithms (big-Oh from sums and recurrence relations; sums from loops, recurrence relations from recursion)
homework 1

due Wed 2/4 in class		    
Fri Reading:
  • ADM chapter 3 intro (page 69)
  • ADM 3.1 (arrays and linked lists)
  • ADM 3.2-3.3, 3.5 (stacks, queues, dictionaries, priority queues) — only read the first part of each section about the operations of each ADT; skip the discussion about implementation
Materials from class: 		   

Week 3: 2/2-2/6

Topics: ADTs and implementations: containers (lists, stacks, queues), lookup (dictionaries); data structures: binary trees, BSTs, and balanced BSTs

  
Mon Reading:
  • ADM 3.2 (containers: lists, stacks, queues)
  • ADM 3.3, 15.1 (lookup: dictionaries)
Materials from class: 		   
Wed Reading:
  • ADM 3.4-3.4.2 (binary search trees)
Materials from class: 		homework 2

due Wed 2/11 in class		    
Fri Reading: Materials from class:    

Week 4: 2/9-2/13

Topics: ADTs and implementations: lookup (dictionaries), priority queues; data structures: balanced BSTs, hashtables, heaps

  
Mon Reading: Materials from class:    
Wed Reading:
  • ADM 3.7-3.7.1 (hashtables)
Materials from class: 		homework 3

due Wed 2/18 in class		    
Fri Reading:
  • ADM 3.5, 15.2 (priority queues)
  • ADM 4.3.1-4.3.4 (heaps)
Materials from class: 		   

Week 5: 2/16-2/20

Topics: ADTs and implementations: sets; fundamental algorithms and techniques: sorting, searching, selection, hashing; data structure toolkit wrapup

  
Mon Reading:
  • ADM 15.5 (sets)
Materials from class: 		   
Wed Reading:
  • ADM chapter 4, 17.1 (sorting)
  • ADM 5.1, 17.2 (searching)
  • ADM 17.3 (selection)
  • ADM 3.7.2-3.7.5 (hashing)
Materials from class: 		homework 4

due Wed 2/25 in class		    
Fri Reading:
  • ADM 3.8, 15.3, 15.6, 8.1.3 (specialized structures)
Materials from class:
  • slides: data structures toolkit wrapup (external sorting, searching, selection, hashing; recap; choosing data structures, designing data structures)
   

Week 6: 2/23-2/27

Topics: graphs and graph algorithms: terminology, ADT and implementation, traversal (BFS)

  
Mon Reading:
  • ADM 7-7.2, 15.4 (flavors of graphs, graph ADT, implementation)
  • ADM 7.3-7.4 (war stories)
Materials from class:
  • slides: graphs (terminology, flavors of graphs, graph ADT, implementation)
programming assignment
Graph ADT

due Mon 3/9 in class		  
Wed Reading:
  • ADM 7.5 (graph traversal)
  • ADM 7.6-7.7 (BFS, applications of BFS)
Materials from class: 		homework 5

due Wed 3/4 in class		  
lab session
Thu 4-5pm
Fri
exam
 revise-and-resubmit for hw1

due Fri 2/27

comments on hw1

Week 7: 3/2-3/6

Topics: graph algorithms: DFS and DFS-based algorithms, minimum spanning trees, shortest paths

  
Mon Reading:
  • ADM 7.8-7.10 (DFS, applications of DFS)
Materials from class: 		 
Wed Reading:
  • ADM 8-8.1 (weighted graph algorithms, minimum spanning trees)
Materials from class: 		homework 6

due Wed 3/11 in class		  
Fri Reading:
  • ADM 8.3 (shortest paths)
Materials from class: 		 

Week 8: 3/9-3/13

Topics: graph algorithms: network flows, bipartite matching, other algorithms; developing algorithms: modeling

  
Mon Reading:
  • ADM 8.5 (network flows and bipartite matching)
Materials from class: 		  Graph ADT interviews

see your email or the main Canvas course page for the signup link

make sure you have handed in your code prior to your interview
  
Wed Reading:
  • ADM 18, 19 (read the input and problem descriptions and enough of the discussion to gain an appreciation for what kinds of applications the problem has, but you don't need to read all of each section)
  • ADM 7.3-7.4, 8.2, 8.4 (war stories)
Materials from class: 		homework 7

due Wed 3/25 in class		  
Fri Materials from class:    

Spring Break: 3/14-3/22

Week 9: 3/23-3/27

Topics: developing algorithms: control-flow paradigms

 
Mon Reading: programming assignment
Dijkstra's algorithm

due Wed 4/1 in class		  
Wed Reading:
  • recursive algorithms (to be posted)
homework  
lab session
Thu 4-5pm
Fri
exam
 revise-and-resubmit for hw2

due Fri 3/27

comments on hw2

Week 10: 3/30-4/3

Topics:

 
Mon  
Wed homework    
Fri programming assignment revise-and-resubmit for hw3, hw4

due Fri 4/3

comments on hw3, hw4 (to be posted)

Week 11: 4/6-4/10

Topics:

 
Mon  
lab session
Tue 4-5pm
Wed homework  
Fri  

Week 12: 4/13-4/17

Topics:

 
Mon    
Wed homework    
Fri    

Week 13: 4/20-4/24

Topics:

 
Mon programming assignment  
Wed HWS Day (no class) homework  
Fri
exam
  

Week 14: 4/27-5/1

Topics:

 
Mon  
lab session
Tue 4-5pm
Wed homework  
Fri  

Week 15: 5/4

Topics:

 
Mon      

Reading Period: 5/5-5/7

  
Tue      
Wed      
Thu      

Exams: 5/8-5/11

  
Fri      
Sat      
Sun      
Mon
exam 8:30-11:30am
 end of semester deadline
no work accepted after 11:30am

last updated: --Mon Mar 23 08:28:01 EDT 2026--
page owned by: bridgeman@hws.edu