MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

ABSTRACT: Data structures are a major topic in computer science, and introductory computer science courses introduce students to basic data structures to accomplish various simple tasks. This manual written for computer science undergraduates provides an overview of various tree structures with the goal of broadening the reader’s understanding of design and applications. Each entry consists of a definition, a prose explanation of operations, and an analysis of the structure. Visual examples may be present as well. Since this manual emphasizes comprehension, mathematical proofs and pseudocode for implementing the structure will not be included. First, we will review the archetypal binary search tree and then move on to other binary trees. Then, we will introduce quadtrees designed to represent spatial data. Finally, we will go over B-trees for big data storage.

WC: 129

READER PROFILE: Reader with a background in CS who has a different philosophy on teaching data structures

READER RESPONSE:
Introducing students to these data structures is all well and good; however I do have some concerns. Your manual regarding complex trees is written for undergraduates who have learned about the BST, but before diving in this topic, students should be exposed to other basic structures first. I am concerned your readers lack the foundation to fully appreciate the value of these structures. One improvement I would suggest is instead of solely focusing on trees, which seems like an arbitrary criteria to me, you should talk about graphs as the applications of graphs are much broad in both a practical and theoretical standpoint. You choose to not discuss algorithmic analysis and pseudocode as this is an introductory manual; however, I believe those two topics are necessary in understanding why structures behave the way they do far better than prose. By providing pseudocode, readers will understand how to implement the structure and its efficiency, which is more accurate than providing soft reasoning on why the tree has certain properties. I would advise for you to include these in a more comprehensive manual. Finally, many of these structures are several decades old. Computer science has advanced through the years so I believe including recent structures would allow students to get a feel for the current state of the field.

VOICE: same throughout document

CITATION: APA, same throughout

You can use referral links in the document or at the end to link to greater detail or complex proofs or coding chunks. Ask me about this, even though I need a paper document.

Also, I totally love the FORESTRY metaphor, making you a park ranger or woodman.

:)