Evolutionary, not revolutionary, programming exercises using design patterns in an OO data structures course

ABSTRACT

Over the years there have been many papers supporting the use of design patterns in a traditional data structures course. In support of this approach, we present an evolutionary sequence of five programming exercises, concentrating on problems that require the use of six different design patterns in the context of a data structures course. Included with these exercises are brief descriptions, code segments, and teaching tips to demonstrate the simplicity and power of design patterns to teach object-oriented design principles. UML class diagrams are used to visualize and supplement the discussions.

REFERENCES

• 1: Erich Gamma , Richard Helm , Ralph Johnson , John Vlissides, Design patterns: elements of reusable object-oriented software, Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., Boston, MA, 1995
• 2: Natasha Gelfand , Michael T. Goodrich , Roberto Tamassia, Teaching data structure design patterns, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, v.30 n.1, p.331-335, Mar. 1998
• 3: Lafore, Data Structures and Algorithms in Java, Sams, Indianapolis, IN, 2002
• 4: Dung Nguyen, Design patterns for data structures, Proceedings of the twenty-ninth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education, p.336-340, February 26-March 01, 1998, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
• 5: Bruno R. Preiss, Design patterns for the data structures and algorithms course, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, v.31 n.1, p.95-99, March 1999

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.1 PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES
      D.1.5 Object-oriented Programming

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.3 Language Constructs and Features
          Subjects: Patterns; Abstract data types; Classes and objects

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design

Keywords:
data structures, design patterns, education