Algorithm Visualization: Projects for VTURCS Students

From the VTURCS project listings:

Create one or more algorithm visualizations to be used in courses such as CS2606. We do our implementations as Java applets. This work will contribute to our fundamental research efforts to understand what makes a successful algorithm visualization, and will extend our library of algorithm visualizations for use in data structures courses at Virginia Tech.

If you want to work on this project, we have a few options available:

• We have several algorithm visualizations already created. However, they need some cleaning up and modernizing. If you are familiar with making applets, it should be fairly easy to make the revisions that we need. The applets are located at our research page. Each of them has some amount of work that needs to be done—mostly bug fixes, but a few still need to be turned into inline applets (instead of opening a new window) and have features added. See the ToDo list.
• We are actively developing new course materials for CS2606 and need some visualizations created. Most of them have a reference implementation available elsewhere on the internet, but we need specific features added. You would be coding these from scratch (or using whatever source code is useful to you from our applets or other resources that we find on the web). Currently, the following applets need to be implemented:
  • Huffman coding
  • memory management visualization and simulation
  • multi-way merge
  • A 2-3+ tree visualization

Knowledge of Java is essential, and our current work is implemented using the Swing interface library. Experience in creating applets (as opposed to java applications) is not needed. If you've never made an applet before (but HAVE made Swing applications), you'll have no troubles learning the two major and few minor differences. You don't need an extensive background in algorithms and data structures, but completion of CS2606 (or the old CS2604) would help.

Please contact Dr. Cliff Shaffer if you're interested in participating, either on a volunteer basis or for CS4974/4994 credit.

Last updated: [06/03/2008]