CS 314 - Specification 5 - Linked Lists

Programming Assignment 5:  Individual Assignment. You must complete this assignment on your own. You may not acquire from any source (e.g.  another student or a web site) a partial or complete solution to a problem or project that has been assigned. You may not show another student your solution to an assignment. You may not have another person (current student, former student, tutor, friend, anyone) “walk you through” how to solve an assignment. You may get help from the instructional staff. You may discuss general ideas and approaches with other students but you may not develop code together. Review the class policy on collaboration from the syllabus.

• Placed online: Wednesday, February 21
• 20 points, ~2% of final grade.
• Do not later than 11 pm on Thursday, February 29

The purpose of this assignment is to implement a linked list class that uses doubly linked nodes. Doubly linked nodes have references to the next node in the list and back to the previous node in the list. This makes some things harder because there are more references to set up so more chances for logic errors. But, it makes a lot of things easier because it is possible to move backwards in the linked structure of nodes without having to start over at the beginning, use the look ahead technique, or use a trailer node.

Files:

Draw pictures!! When completing methods and figuring out all the references that have to be updated and what the special cases are DRAW PICTURES of the linked structure. This is much easier than just looking at code and trying to determine (guess?) what must be done or why something does not work. Don't program by permutation or try cargo cult programming.

Please realize, when you get an error in a test the cause is typically in another method. It is often the case that students make errors when adding or removing elements or changing the structure of the internal storage container (the linked structure of nodes), but the error does not manifest itself until later on in a test of toString.

Implementation details:

Complete the LinkedList class.  For this assignment you may not use the LinkedList or ArrayList classes from the Java standard library. You must implement the underlying storage container as a doubly linked structure using the DoubleListNode class. The DoubleListNodes and LinkedList are generic based on Java's generic syntax.

You may approach the implementation in many ways. (References to first and last node, circular list with only a link to the first node, use of header nodes that don't contain any data) The approach you take is up to you. Each has certain advantages and disadvantages.

In addition to implementing the methods specified in the IList interface you must add  the following methods to the LinkedList class. E is the data type variable. It will hold what the data type is for the elements (thus the E) of a particular LinkedList object.

• void addFirst(E item) // add an item to the front of this LinkedList
• void addLast(E item) // add an item to the end of this LinkedList
• E removeFirst() // remove the first item in this LinkedList
• E removeLast() // remove the first item in this LinkedList
• override the toString method. The data in the list should be listed between square brackets with a comma between each item and a single space after each comma. e.g. [A, B, C]
  public String toString()
• override the equals method. Two ILists are equal if they have the same number of elements in the same order.
  public boolean equals(Object other). Two empty lists are equal regardless of the kinds of elements they store. (This is true in the Java standard library.) Also note, we are implementing the IList interface. To meet the requirement IList puts on classes that implement it, your LinkedList is considered equal to any other IList (not just a LinkedList) if it has the same elements in the same order.

LinkedListTester provides some tests for the LinkedList class. In your final submission delete the provided tests. Add at least 2 tests of your own per method in the LinkedList class to the LinkedListTester class. Delete the provided tests. You may post the tests you write to the class class discussion group, but in the end you must implement your own tests.

 Note, most of my tests rely on your iterator method. If that is not working you will fail those tests. I strongly recommend you test your methods as you complete them by writing your own tests! Write a method, then test it. Write a method, then test it. DON'T do this:  write a method, write a method, write a method, ... then test ...then debug, debug, debug, debug, debug, debug, debug, debug, debug, debug, debug, debug.

For every method in the LinkedList class state the Big O of the method if there are already N items in the list.

The methods for the iterator for your linked list shall all be O(1).  Implement the hasNext and next methods for your iterator. You shall replace the default remove method from the Iterator interface with a remove method that actually removes the last element returned by next. Your iterator class does NOT need to detect co-modification errors.

If a method has preconditions you must check those preconditions and throw an Exception if they are not met.

You can, of course, implement methods using other methods from the class. You should only do this if the version of a method that relies on other methods in the class is as efficient as not using other methods.

As always, use good style: comments for non obvious algorithms and operations, good variable names, use helper methods if necessary, make operations as efficient as possible given the constraints.

Experiments: It is interesting and important to know the difference in behavior between linked lists and array based lists. When your LinkedList class is finished, run the comparison method from the LinkedListTester class which performs a number of tests with your LinkedList and the Java ArrayList class. To run the method simply uncomment the line at the end of the main method in LinkedListTester that calls the comparison method. You are free to change the initial value of N for the various tests in the comparison method.

In a comment at the top of your LinkedListTester class indicate which operations are faster when using your LinkedList, which are faster when using the Java ArrayList class, and which ones are about the same.  (Realize the experiments use different starting values of N.)

For the operations tested via the experiment what do you think the Big O of each operation / method is based on the timing data? State your reasoning.

Submission: Fill in the header in the LinkedListTester.java and LinkedList.java files.. Replace <NAME> with your name. Note, you are stating, on your honor, that you did the assignment on your own.

Create a zip file name a5.zip with your LinkedListTester.java and LinkedList.java files. The zip file must not contain any directory structure, just the required files.

See this page for instructions on how to create a zip via Eclipse.

Turn in a5.zip via your Canvas account to programming assignment 5.

• Ensure you files are named LinkedListTester.java and LinkedList.java. Failure to do so will result in points off.

• Ensure LinkedListTester.java and LinkedList.java  are part of the default package. Do not add a package statement to either file.

• Ensure your zip has no internal directory structure. When the file is unzipped no directories (folders) are created. (Note, the built in unzip feature of some versions of Windows and Apple OS X "help" by adding a directory when you unzip with the same name as the file. The unzip we use on the CS Linux system does not do this. Neither do unzip programs such as 7zip.)

• Ensure you submit the assignment under Programming Assignment 5 in Canvas.

Checklist. Did you remember to:

• review and follow the general assignment requirements?
• work on the assignment individually?
• fill in the header in LinkeListTester.java and LinkedList.java?
• ensure each method in your LinkedList class states the Big O of the method in the method comment?
• ensure your version of LinkedList passes the tests in LinkedListTester.java and add your own tests?
• ensure your program does not suffer a compile error or runtime error?
• place the results of your experiments and conclusions in a comment at the top of LinkedListTester.java?
• turn in your a5.zip file with your Java source code files (LinkedList.java and LinkedListTester.java) to Canvas before 11 pm, Thursday, February 29?

  Back to the CS 314 homepage.