Projects

Project instructions and specifications.

Why does 30 + 30 evaluate to 60 while "30" + "30" evaluate to "3030"? Underlying this question is the concept of a data type. In Java, every variable has a data type like int or String. Data types combine representation and functionality. An int can only represent integer numbers within a certain range and the plus operator computes the sum of the two values. A String, on the other hand, represents data as a sequence of characters and the plus operator appends the two strings.

Abstract data types are data types that do not specify a single representation of data and only include a specification for the functionality of the data type. In Java, abstract data types are often represented using interfaces like List, Set, or Map. Java provides implementations or specific representations of each interface through classes like ArrayList, TreeSet, or HashMap.

The projects in this course aim to highlight the relationship between abstractions, implementations, and problems. The purpose of programming in this course is to explore the capabilities and design effort that goes into writing a specification. But programming is only a small portion of the projects: a much larger emphasis is placed on comparing the qualities of different solutions. The goal of the projects is learn the how and the why hidden within the project specifications through a synthesis of programming, analysis, and communication.

Explore Projects

• Primer - Learning IntelliJ, Java programming, and unit testing.
• Deques - Designing and analyzing double-ended queues.
• Autocomplete - Designing and analyzing autocomplete.
• Priority Queues - Designing and analyzing priority queues.
• Shortest Paths (Optional) - Designing and analyzing shortest paths.