A big part of the Data Structures and Algorithms class was spent reviewing different computer science algorithms. We learned how they worked and when the best time to use them was, and then we discussed Big O Notation and how to calculate the "cost" of an algorithm. Project One was understanding the different "costs" of running each algorithm for the program we were developing. Project Two was to build the program to store, organize, and search the data read from a CSV file.
I decided to use a binary search tree to build the program. Project One had the best runtime analysis and would take fewer lines of code to write to complete the requirements.
I felt like I had a solid base set up from my pseudocode when I started to build the program. If I ran into any issues, I utilized Google to answer my questions or the tutoring service, which was very helpful in explaining errors to me.
How has your work on this project expanded your approach to designing software and developing programs?
This project helped solidify why writing pseudocode is a good idea before starting to develop. I also have a deeper understanding of different algorithms and why we should have many in the toolkit instead of just one.
How has your work on this project evolved the way you write programs that are maintainable, readable, and adaptable?
I always try and make sure my code is commented well. I learn more and more as I see how others develop and their code, so the example files we used were beneficial for seeing other commenting styles. I also used class files in Project Two because everything was too cluttered in one file.