MIT 521

Data Structures and Algorithm

Introduction
 Course objectives

 Be familiar with problem solving

 Be able to develop (and implement) algorithms
 Be able to trace algorithms
 Be able to select appropriate data structures and
algorithms for given problems
 What is data?
 Data
 A collection of facts from which conclusion may be
drawn
 e.g. Data: Temperature 35°C; Conclusion: It is hot.
 Types of data
 Textual: For example, your name (Muhammad)
 Numeric: For example, your ID (090254)
 Audio: For example, your voice
 Video: For example, your voice and picture
 (...)
 What is data structure?
 A particular way of storing and organizing
data in a computer so that it can be used
efficiently and effectively.
 Data structure is the logical or mathematical
model of a particular organization of data.
 A group of data elements grouped together
under one name.
 For example, an array of integers
 Types of data structures
Array

Linked List

Queue Stack
Tree

There are many, but we named a few. We’ll learn these

data structures in great detail!
 The Need for Data Structures
 Goal: to organize data

 Criteria: to facilitate efficient

 storage of data
 retrieval of data
 manipulation of data

 Design Issue:
 select and design appropriate data types
(This is the main motivation to learn and understand data
structures)
 Data Structure Operations
(Demonstrate using class room example!)
 Traversing
 Accessing each data element exactly once so that
certain items in the data may be processed
 Searching
 Finding the location of the data element (key) in the
structure
 Insertion
 Adding a new data element to the structure
 Data Structure Operations (cont.)
 Deletion
 Removing a data element from the structure
 Sorting
 Arrange the data elements in a logical order
(ascending/descending)
 Merging
 Combining data elements from two or more data
structures into one
 What is algorithm?
 A finite set of instructions which accomplish a
particular task
 A method or process to solve a problem
 Transforms input of a problem to output

Algorithm = Input + Process + Output

Algorithm development is an art – it needs practice,

practice and only practice!
 What is a good algorithm?
 It must be correct
 It must be finite (in terms of time and size)
 It must terminate
 It must be unambiguous
 Which step is next?
 It must be space and time efficient

A program is an instance of an algorithm,

written in some specific programming language
 A simple algorithm
 Problem: Find maximum of a, b, c
 Algorithm
 Input = a, b, c
 Output = max
 Process
o Let max = a
o If b > max then
max = b
o If c > max then
max = c
o Display max

Order is very important!!!

 Algorithm development: Basics
 Clearly identify:
 what output is required?
 what is the input?
 What steps are required to transform input into
output
o The most crucial bit
o Needs problem solving skills
o A problem can be solved in many different ways
o Which solution, amongst the different possible
solutions is optimal?
 How to express an algorithm?
 A sequence of steps to solve a problem
 We need a way to express this sequence of steps
 Natural language (NL) is an obvious choice, but not a
good choice. Why?
o NLs are notoriously ambiguous (unclear)
 Programming language (PL) is another choice, but
again not a good choice. Why?
o Algorithm should be PL independent
 We need some balance
o We need PL independence
o We need clarity
o Pseudo-code provides the right balance
 What is pseudo-code?
 Pseudo-code is a short hand way of describing a
computer program
 Rather than using the specific syntax of a
computer language, more general wording is used
 It is a mixture of NL and PL expressions, in a
systematic way
 Using pseudo-code, it is easier for a non-
programmer to understand the general workings of
the program
 Pseudo-code: general guidelines

 Use PLs construct that are consistent with

modern high level languages, e.g. C++, Java, ...
 Use appropriate comments for clarity
 Be simple and precise
 Components of Pseudo-code
 Expressions
 Standard mathematical symbols are used
o Left arrow sign (←) as the assignment operator in
assignment statements (equivalent to the = operator in Java)
o Equal sign (=) as the equality relation in Boolean
expressions (equivalent to the "= =" relation in Java)
o For example
Sum ← 0
Sum ← Sum + 5

What is the final value of sum?

Components of Pseudo-code (cont.)
 Decision structures (if-then-else logic)
 if condition then true-actions [else false-actions]
 We use indentation to indicate what actions should be
included in the true-actions and false-actions
 For example
if marks > 50 then
print “Congratulation, you are passed!”
else
print “Sorry, you are failed!”
end if

What will be the output if marks are equal to 75?

Components of Pseudo-code (cont.)
 Loops (Repetition)
 Pre-condition loops
o While loops
• while condition do actions
• We use indentation to indicate what actions should be included in
the loop actions
• For example
while counter < 5 do
print “Welcome to CS204!”
counter ← counter + 1
end while

What will be the output if counter is initialised to 0, 7?

Components of Pseudo-code (cont.)
 Loops (Repetition)
 Pre-condition loops
o For loops
• for variable-increment-definition do actions
• For example
for counter ← 0; counter < 5; counter ← counter + 2 do
print “Welcome to CS204!”
end for

What will be the output?

Components of Pseudo-code (cont.)
 Loops (Repetition)
 Post-condition loops
o Do loops
• do actions while condition
• For example
do
print “Welcome to CS204!”
counter ← counter + 1
while counter < 5

What will be the output, if counter was initialised to 10?

The body of a post-condition loop must execute at least once

Components of Pseudo-code (cont.)
 Method declarations
 Return_type method_name (parameter_list) method_body
 For example
integer sum ( integer num1, integer num2)
start
result ← num1 + num2
end
 Method calls
 object.method (args)
 For example
mycalculator.sum(num1, num2)
Components of Pseudo-code (cont.)
 Method returns
 return value
 For example
integer sum ( integer num1, integer num2)
start
result ← num1 + num2
return result
end
Components of Pseudo-code (cont.)
 Comments
 /* Multiple line comments go here. */
 // Single line comments go here
 Some people prefer braces {}, for comments
 Arrays
 A[i] represents the ith cell in the array A.
 The cells of an n-celled array A are indexed from A[0]
to A[n − 1] (consistent with Java).
 Algorithm Design: Practice
 Example 1: Determining even/odd number
 A number divisible by 2 is considered an even
number, while a number which is not divisible by 2 is
considered an odd number. Write pseudo-code to
display first N odd/even numbers.

 Example 2: Computing Weekly Wages

 Gross pay depends on the pay rate and the number of
hours worked per week. However, if you work more
than 40 hours, you get paid time-and-a-half for all
hours worked over 40. Write the pseudo-code to
compute gross pay given pay rate and hours worked
 Even/ Odd Numbers
Input range
for num←0; num<=range; num←num+1 do
if num % 2 = 0 then
print num is even
else
print num is odd
endif
endfor
 Computing weekly wages
Input hours_worked, pay_rate
if hours_worked <= 40 then
gross_pay ← pay_rate x hours_worked
else
basic_pay ← pay_rate x 40
over_time ← hours_worked – 40
over_time_pay ← 1.5 x pay_rate x over_time
gross_pay ← basic_pay + over_time_pay
endfor
print gross_pay
 Homework

1. Write an algorithm to find the largest of a

set of numbers. You do not know the
number of numbers.
2. Write an algorithm in pseudocode that finds
the average of (n) numbers.
For example numbers are [4,5,14,20,3,6]