Designing Data Structures in Java: A Software Engineering Approach

"Designing Data Structures in Java" provides a solid foundation for anyone seeking to understand the how and the why of programming data structures. Intended for the reader with an introductory Java background, this book aims to meet the needs of students enrolled in a typical "Data Structures and Algorithms with Java" (CS2) course. Starting with a description of the software development process, the book takes a problem-solving approach to programming, and shows how data structures form the building blocks of well-designed and cleanly-implemented programs. Topics include: Problem solving, Abstraction, Java objects and references, Arrays, Abstract Data Types, Ordered lists, Sorting, Algorithm evaluation, Binary searches, Stacks, Queues, Linked Lists, Double-ended lists, Recursion, Doubly-linked lists, Binary Search Trees, Traversals, Heaps, and more. Mr. Brouillette's 25+ years of experience as a software engineer and educator allow him to bring a unique and refreshing perspective to the topic of data structures which is rigorous, accessible and practical. Material is presented in a 'top down' approach, beginning with explanations of why different data structures are used, continuing with clearly illustrated concepts of how the structures work, and ending with clear, neat Java code examples. Succinct graphics provide visual representations of the ideas, and verbal explanations supplement the documented code. Each chapter ends with a Chapter Checklist summary page which distills and highlights the most important ideas from the chapter. The book is intended as a step by step explanation and exploration of the how and why of using Data Structures in modern computer program development. Even though the Java language is used in the explanation and implementation of the various structures, the concepts are applicable to other languages which the reader may encounter in the future. The topics included have been sequenced to build upon each other, always with the perspective of the beginning programming student in mind. There are discussions of software engineering concepts and goals, and motivations for learning different data structures. This text brings the beginning Java student from novice programmer to the next level of programming maturity.