Teaching Algorithms and Data Structures: 10 Personal Observations

Abstract

Since 1980, I have taught almost every year an elementary course on algorithms and data structures, first for the third and later for the second semester. The first perfor-mances - in PL/I times - were heavily based on [5]. Later the course became increasingly independent of any single textbook, and now makes use of a large number of sources, including, of course, the author’s proper experiences. Nevertheless, my course is still very standard. It is known that many mathematics teachers at elementary schools get bored presenting the same proven stuff over the years, and more and more, therefore, teach “exotic” alternatives, in general not in favor of the students. This is a phenomenon I have always tried to avoid. Still I think that the elementary textbooks on algorithms and data structures have become too canonical too quickly, and that certain ways of presentation and also of selecting the contents are not as justified as they seem to be. In the following, I state some very personal observations which have arisen from the many performances of my standard course, in the hopes of challenging a little the textbook authors and teachers of algorithms and data structures. Each one of my 10 observations is concluded by a short statement put in a box and intended as kind of a summary and accentuation.

Thomas Ottmann is not only a renowned researcher in algorithms and data structures, but also a prominent innovator in teaching them to students of all levels. I am very pleased to dedicate this small contribution to him.