Project 3 List implementation: ArrayLists vs. LinkedLists

CSCI 1933 Project 3
List implementation: ArrayLists vs. LinkedLists

Instructions
Please read and understand these expectations thoroughly. Failure to follow these instructions
could negatively impact your grade. Rules detailed in the course syllabus also apply but will not
necessarily be repeated here.
• Due: The project is due on Wednesday, April 1 by 11:59 PM.
• Identification: Place you and your partner’s x500 in a comment in all files you submit. For
example, //Written by shino012 and hoang159.
• Submission: Submit a zip or tar archive on Canvas containing all your java files. You are
allowed to change or modify your submission, so submit early and often, and verify that all
your files are in the submission.
Failure to submit the correct files will result in a score of zero for all missing parts. Late
submissions and submissions in an abnormal format (such as .rar or .java) will be penalized.
Only submissions made via Canvas are acceptable.
• Code: You must use the EXACT class and method signatures we ask for. This is because
we use a program to evaluate your code (more on this later). Code that doesn’t compile will
receive a significant penalty. Code should be compatible with Java 8, which is installed on
the CSE Labs computers.
• Questions: Questions related to the project can be discussed on Canvas in abstract. This
relates to programming in Java, understanding the writeup, and topics covered in lecture and
labs. Do not post any code or solutions on the forum. Do not e-mail the TAs your
questions when they can be asked on Canvas.
• Grading: Grading will be done by the TAs, so please address grading problems to them
privately.
IMPORTANT: You are NOT permitted to use ANY built-in libraries, classes, etc.
Double check that you have NO import statements in your code, except for those
explicitly permitted.
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CSCI 1933 PROJECT 3 CODE STYLE
Code Style
Part of your grade will be decided based on the “code style” demonstrated by your programming.
In general, all projects will involve a style component. This should not be intimidating, but it is
fundamentally important. The following items represent “good” coding style:
• Use effective comments to document what important variables, functions, and sections of
the code are for. In general, the TA should be able to understand your logic through the
comments left in the code.
Try to leave comments as you program, rather than adding them all in at the end. Comments
should not feel like arbitrary busy work - they should be written assuming the reader is fluent
in Java, yet has no idea how your program works or why you chose certain solutions.
• Use effective and standard indentation.
• Use descriptive names for variables. Use standard Java style for your names: ClassName,
functionName, variableName for structures in your code, and ClassName.java for the file
names.
Try to avoid the following stylistic problems:
• Missing or highly redundant, useless comments. int a = 5; //Set a to be 5 is not helpful.
• Disorganized and messy files. Poor indentation of braces ({ and }).
• Incoherent variable names. Names such as m and numberOfIndicesToCount are not useful. The former is too short to be descriptive, while the latter is much too descriptive and
redundant.
• Slow functions. While some algorithms are more efficient than others, functions that are
aggressively inefficient could be penalized even if they are otherwise correct. In general,
functions ought to terminate in under 5 seconds for any reasonable input.
The programming exercises detailed in the following pages will both be evaluated for code style.
This will not be strict – for example, one bad indent or one subjective variable name are hardly a
problem. However, if your code seems careless or confusing, or if no significant effort was made to
document the code, then points will be deducted.
In further projects we will continue to expect a reasonable attempt at documentation and style as
detailed in this section. If you are confused about the style guide, please talk with a TA.
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CSCI 1933 PROJECT 3 1. INTRODUCTION
1 Introduction
IMPORTANT: This project utilizes interfaces and generics. For brevity, this write-up omits
discussions of such topics. For more information, please see a TA, review the lecture notes,
or review other related literature (e.g. official Java documentation).
In this project you will implement a list in two different ways: as an ArrayList and as a LinkedList.
You will then compare the time complexities of each List method when implemented as an ArrayList
and as a LinkedList.
1.1 LinkedList Implementation
The first part of this project will be to implement a linked list. Create a class LinkedList that
implements all the methods in List interface. Recall that to implement the List interface and use
the generic compatibility with your code, LinkedList should have following structure:
public class LinkedList<T extends Comparable<T implements List<T {
...
}
The underlying structure of a linked list is a node. This means you will have an instance variable
that is the first node of the list. The provided Node.java contains a generic node class that you
will use for your linked list implementation∗
.
Your LinkedList class should have a single constructor:
public LinkedList() {
...
}
that initializes the list to an empty list.
Implementation Details
• In addition to the methods described in the List interface, the LinkedList class should
contain a private class variable isSorted. This should be initialized to true in the constructor
(because it is sorted if it has no elements) and updated when the list is sorted, or more elements
are added or set. For the purposes of this class, isSorted is only true if the list is sorted in
ascending order.
∗You may implement your linked list as a headed list, i.e., the first node in the list is a ‘dummy’ node and the
second node is the first element of the list, or a non-headed list, i.e., the first node is the first element of the list.
Depending on how you choose to implement your list, there will be some small nuances.
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CSCI 1933 PROJECT 3 1. INTRODUCTION
• Initially and after a call to clear(), the size should be zero and your list should be empty.
• In sort(), do not use an array or ArrayList to sort the elements. You are required to
sort the values using only the linked list data structure. You can move nodes or swap values
but you cannot use an array to store values while sorting.
• Depending on your implementation, remember that after sorting, the former first node may
not be the current first node.
1.2 Array List Implementation
The second part of this project will be to implement an array list. Create a class ArrayList that
implements all the methods in List interface. Recall that to implement the List interface and use
the generic compatibility with your code, ArrayList should have following structure:
public class ArrayList<T extends Comparable<T implements List<T {
...
}
The underlying structure of an array list is (obviously) an array. This means you will have an
instance variable that is an array. Since our implementation is generic, the type of this array will
be T[]. Due to Java’s implementation of generics†
, you CANNOT simply create a generic array
with:
T[] a = new T[size];
Rather, you have to create a Comparable (since T extends Comparable)
‡ array and cast it to an
array of type T.
T[] a = (T[]) new Comparable[size];
Your ArrayList class should have a single constructor:
public ArrayList() {
...
}
that initializes the underlying array to a length of 2.
Implementation Details
• In addition to the methods described in the List interface, the ArrayList class should contain
a private class variable isSorted. This should be initialized to true in the constructor
(because it is sorted if it has no elements) and updated when the list is sorted, or more
†
specifically because of type erasure
‡had T not extended Comparable, you would say T[] a = (T[])new Object[size];
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CSCI 1933 PROJECT 3 2. UNIT TESTS
elements are added or set. For the purposes of this class, isSorted is only true if the list is
sorted in ascending order.
• When the underlying array becomes full, both add methods will automatically add more
space by creating a new array that is twice the length of the original array, copying over
everything from the original array to the new array, and finally setting the instance variable
to the new array. Hint: You may find it useful to write a separate private method that does
the growing and copying
• When calling either remove method, the underlying array should no longer have that spot. For
example, if the array was ["hi", "bye", "hello", "okay", ...] and you called remove
with index 1, the array would be ["hi", "hello", "okay", ...]. Basically, the only null
elements of the array should be after all the data.
• Initially and after a call to clear(), the size method should return 0. The “size” refers to
the number of elements in the list , NOT the length of the array. After a call to clear(),
the underlying array should be reset to a length of 2 as in the constructor.
2 Unit Tests
As mentioned at the beginning of the project writeup we will be using a program to evaluate your
code. Specifically, we will be using JUnit (unit tests) to test each method that you implement. We
may release these tests for you to use when they are ready to so you can check that everything in
your classes works properly. Expect to hear more information about this in the near future.
3 Analysis
Now that you have implemented and used both an array list and linked list, which one is better?
Which methods in List are more efficient for each implementation?
For each of the 13 methods in List, compare the runtime (Big-O) for each method and implementation. Ignore any increased efficiency caused by the flag isSorted. Include an analysis.txt
or analysis.pdf with your submission structured as follows:
Method ArrayList Runtime LinkedList Runtime Explanation
boolean add(T element) O(...) O(...) ...
boolean add(int index, T element) O(...) O(...) ...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Your explanation for each method only needs to be a couple sentences briefly justifying your
runtimes.
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CSCI 1933 PROJECT 3 4. HONORS
4 Honors
Note: This section is required for students in Honors section only. Optional for others but no
extra credit.
You will have two additional methods to implement. Each method must be implemented in both
the ArrayList class and the LinkedList class.
1. getKSmallest(int k) – This method returns a new List object (ArrayList or LinkedList
depending on what type of object the method is called on) containting the k smallest elements
in the given List. If k is less than 1 then null should be returned. If k is greater than or equal
to the size of the list then the entire list should be returned.
2. getKLargest(int k) – This method returns a new List object (ArrayList or LinkedList
depending on what type of object the method is called on) containing the k largest elements
in the given List. If k is less than 1 then null should be returned. If k is greater than or equal
to the size of the list then the entire list should be returned.
You should also include time complexities for these methods in your analysis.txt/analysis.pdf file.
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