Topics for the Final Exam
CS 241: Data Structures, Fall 2005

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The final will be cumulative from the beginning of the semester. However, greater emphasis will be placed on material covered since the last exam. Please review the topics from previous exams and the exams themselves:

Also, review the textbook and labs.

Chapter 11: Hash Tables

• What is a hash table and how does it work?
• Why use a hash table over other types of storage such as array lists or linked lists?
• What is the key?
• What is a hash function? What are good characteristics of a hash function?
• What is a collision and what are strategies for dealing with collisions: chaining, linear probing, open addressing, random hashing. What are pros and cons of these strategies.
• Why does removing an item from a hash table potentially cause problems?

Chapter 14: Priority Queues, Heaps, and Heapsort

• What is the abstract data type referred to as a priority queue?
• What are the typical operations?
• What are sample applications?
• What is the complexity for various implementations?
• A heap is one implementation of a priority queue. What is a heap? What is the "heap property"?
• How does one create a heap, insert into and remove an item from a heap?
• What is the complexity of the different operations?
• How does heapsort work?

Bucket and Radix Sort

• How does bucket sort work? When is it good to use? What is its complexity?
• How does radix sort work? When is it good to use? What is its complexity?

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