Multimedia Technology - General & Miscellaneous, Network Programming, Java (Programming Language), General Software Engineering

Problem Solving with Data Structures Using Java: A Multimedia Approach

Name: Problem Solving with Data Structures Using Java: A Multimedia Approach
Author: Mark J. Guzdial
ISBN: 9780136060611

by Mark J. Guzdial, Barbara Ericson

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Overview

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Synopsis

Problem Solving with Data Structures, First Edition is not a traditional data structures textbook that teaches concepts in an abstract, and often dry, context that focuses on data structures using numbers. Instead, this book takes a more creative approach that uses media and simulations (specifically, trees and linked lists of images and music), to make concepts more concrete, more relatable, and therefore much more motivating for students.

This book is appropriate for both majors and non-majors. It provides an introduction to object-oriented programming in Java, arrays, linked lists, trees, stacks, queues, lists, maps, and heaps. It also covers an existing simulation package (Greenfoot) and how to create continuous and discrete event simulations.

About the Author, Mark J. Guzdial

Barbara Ericson is a research scientist and the Director of Computing Outreach for the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. She has been working on improving introductory computing education for over 5 years. She enjoys the diversity of the types of problems she has worked on over the years in computing including computer graphics, artificial intelligence, medicine, and object-oriented programming.

Mark Guzdial is a Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. An award-winning teacher and active researcher in computing education, he holds a joint Ph.D. In Education and Computer Science from the University of Michigan. Dr. Guzdial directs Project “Georgia Computes!” which is an NSF funded alliance to improve computing education from pre-teen years to undergraduates. He is a member of the ACM Education Board and is a frequent contributor to the ACM SIGCSE (Computer Science Education) Symposium.

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Editorials

From the Publisher

“An innovative departure from the typical presentation of this content; it uses a multimedia context to highly engage students. This is a refreshing applied/practical presentation than the more common abstract one.” — Tom Wulf, University of Cincinnati College of Applied Science

“This textbook [Guzdial/Ericson] may be a way to introduce computer science students to data structures without losing them as majors!” — Helen Hu, Westminster College

“The applications are just so darn interesting!” — Kathy Liszka, University of Akron

“Overall, I think the examples and applications are more interesting and relevant than other CS2 textbooks that I have seen before.” — Timothy Huang, Middlebury College

“This text [Guzdial/Ericson] explores data structures using the context of pictures, sounds, music, animations, and simulations. It provides rich context for learning about the structuring of data using Java.” — Charles Fowler, Gainesville State College

“Other data structures books are generally boring. Guzdial/Ericson uses media computation successfully in introductory programming courses in both Java and Python. Students can see the usefulness and relevancy of programming to manipulating digital media.” — Kam Fui Lau, Armstrong Atlantic State University