News from NMAMIT | Report on ‘Data Structures & Algorithm with Java’ Workshop

Report on ‘Data Structures & Algorithm with Java’ Workshop Finite Loop Club, NMAMIT successfully held a Workshop on Data Structures & Algorithm with Java on 12th November 2022 at CPP LAB, NMAMIT conducted by Mr. Akash Rao (Final Year, CSE), Program Advisor (Finite Loop Club). The target participants were 3rd & 4th year BE students. 

Mr. Shashank Shetty, Asst. Professor, CSE / Faculty Coordinator, introduced the participants to the Finite Loop Club by providing an overview of all the activities and work undertaken by the Club. The importance of Data Structures & Algorithms with a focus on aligning the workshop as a placement preparation guide was conveyed to the students by him. 

Ms. Bhargavi Nayak, IV CSE / President, Finite Loop Club welcomed the participants to the workshop, gave a brief glimpse and walkthrough of the Workshop and highlighted the importance of Java from a placement perspective. She introduced Mr. Akash Rao, a Java and Python enthusiast with domain interests in Applications Development and Machine Learning to the participants. 

The workshop focused on five principal concepts that are generally discussed during company interviews i.e Collections, Linked List, Recursion, DFS & Dynamic Programming. The target participants were 3rd & 4th year BE students, but had a good count of registrations from 2nd year students also. The workshop started with Java basics and a run-through of its syntax. 

To help students gear up, a few basic and interesting problems like, sorting an array of 0s, 1s and 2s; Reversing a String; Reversing words in a given string were solved, which involved a detailed explanation and overview of Time Complexities and Optimization Strategies to be analyzed while coding the solution. At the same time, a comparison between Python and Java was drawn, and how sometimes it is required to choose a language based on the problem in hand to be solved, was mentioned. 

Moving forward, the different Collection Objects in Java; ArrayList, HashSet, HashMap, and Counters with their syntax were explained, and students were asked to make a note since it had to be used for all the concepts further covered. A few must-solve examples, like Contains Duplicate, Anagrams, etc were analyzed and solved using Collections. 

Further algorithms like Floyd’s Tortoise and Hare Algorithm which are used in solving the cycle detection in Linked List were introduced to the students. With this, how the problem could be solved using the Recursion having comparatively better efficiency was explained. 

A quick tour of Dynamic Programming and DFS was given and the associated optimal solution was demonstrated. The entire workshop involved students using their Leetcode Account to solve problems and mini-challenges and the solvers were asked to explain them to their peers. 

Lastly, students were given a roadmap to getting started with placement preparation, with additional resources (soft skills, DBMS, OOPS, OS etc). Overall, a good involvement of the students was observed with a willing-to-learn attitude. 

The workshop came to the end with a short note by Mr. Puneeth RP, Asst. Professor, CSE / Faculty Coordinator of Finite Loop Club on getting successfully trained on Data Structures & Algorithms with Java. He appreciated the initiative taken by Akash and congratulated the entire team of Finite Loop Club for successfully organizing the workshop. 

The event was coordinated and organized by Mr. Amogh Mayya, IV CSE (Program Advisor, Finite Loop Club). The volunteers present during the workshop were Bhargavi Nayak, Nagaraj Pandith, Apoorva Prabhu, Bhoomika Prabhu, Dhanish Suvarna, Karthik Acharya, Abdeali, Thejas Kumar, Padmashree, Ashwini, Vaishnavi K, Vaishnavi Prasad, Pawan, Nidheesha, Vidyesh, Prajwal Suvarna, Daivik Shetty, Swasthik Ashok Shetty, Swasthik Shetty, Shruthi Poojari. 

Faculty coordinators for the event were Mr. Shashank Shetty and Mr. Puneeth RP, Asst. Professors, Dept. of CSE.