This text teaches data structures and algorithms from the perspective of abstract thinking and problem solving. Experienced author and educator Mark Allen Weiss takes a unique approach by clearly separating the specification and implementation of data structures. He presents the interface and running time of data structures in Part II of the book. Then, he provides the opportunity for students to use the data structures in a variety of practical examples before introducing the implementations in Part IV. By first gaining a familiarity with the interfaces and uses of data structures, readers will be able to think more abstractly about the subject matter.

Features

• NEW! Integrated discussion of Design Patterns
• NEW! Significantly revised material on Inheritance, with a Person hierarchy, a simplified Shape example, a discussion of the Object class, and inheritance details (single dispatch)
• NEW! Utilization of the Java 1.2 Collections API no longer restricts professors to using a non-standard, book-dependent data structures package
• An optional, simplified Collections implementation is illustrated at the end of appropriate chapters in Part IV