Advanced Topics in Computer Science
Unit 3: Linked Lists
Students move beyond array-backed collections and learn how references can connect nodes into flexible linear structures.
Unit Focus
What this unit is really teaching
The emphasis is on pointer/reference reasoning, diagrams, edge cases, and implementation from first principles.
Key Topics
- +Node classes, references, null, and object identity
- +Singly linked lists, doubly linked lists, heads, tails, and sentinels
- +Traversal, search, insertion, deletion, and list reversal
- +Edge cases: empty lists, one-node lists, first and last node updates
- +Comparing linked lists with arrays and ArrayLists
- +Iterators and simple custom list APIs
Practice Work
Implementation and analysis tasks
Student task
Implement a custom linked list with add, remove, contains, and reverse operations.
Student task
Use diagrams to debug reference bugs before changing code.
Need support with Unit 3?
Work through the concepts, code, edge cases, and runtime analysis with 1:1 guidance.