Data Structures (Spring 2025) Exercises - University of Geneva

Contents

• TP0: Introduction to C, and VSCode (making sure you can debug)
• TP1: Simple data types and pointers
• TP2: Stack, Queue, List
• TP3: Trees, AVL Trees
• TP4: Graphs
• TP5: Hashing, Hash Tables, chaining, linear probing

Set-up local environment

VSCode

If not installed, download and install Visual Studio Code. If not installed, install it with:

• Linux: sudo apt-get install code
• MacOS: From the website
• Windows: From the website

Make sure you install the C/C++ extension for VSCode. This should provide intellisense, code navigation, and debugging features.

Windows

If you are on Windows, follow these steps:

1. install MSYS2 and always run commands from MSYS2's terminal.
2. Execute pacman -Syu to update the package list (hit 'Y' when prompted). Re-start MSYS2 and do the same for pacman -Su.
3. Search for MINGW in the start menu and open the MINGW64 terminal.
4. Run pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc to install the GNU C Compiler.
5. Run pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gdb to install the GNU Debugger.
6. Run pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-make and pacman -S make to install Make.
7. Add the bin directory of MSYS2 to your system's PATH environment variable. This is usually C:\msys64\mingw64\bin.
8. If not yet installed, install git from the official website.

Linux

Linux:

1. Run sudo apt-get update to update the package list.
2. Run sudo apt-get install gcc to install the GNU C Compiler.
3. Run sudo apt-get install gdb to install the GNU Debugger.
4. Run sudo apt-get install make to install Make.
5. If not yet installed (check with git --version), install git with sudo apt-get install git.

MacOS

MacOS:

1. Install Homebrew. This is a package manager for MacOS. You can install it by running the following command in your terminal:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

2. Run brew install gcc to install the GNU C Compiler.
3. Install VSCode (next section) and install the CodeLLDB extension for VSCode. You will use lldb instead of gdb for debugging.
4. Run brew install make to install Make.
5. If not yet installed (check with git --version), install git with brew install git.

TP0: Debugging

You should now be able to debug your code!

Do the following steps to run tp0:

1. Open the core folder in VSCode (sdd).
2. Open src/tp0/main.c in VSCode.
3. Add a breakpoint (red dot) on line 15.
4. Select "Run and Debug" from VSCode's sidebar, then select "tp0 macos", "tp0 linux" or "tp0 windows" from the top-left dropdown menu depending on your OS.
5. Press the green play button to start debugging. If the code stops at the breakpoint, you are ready to go!

Git and tests

We are going to create a GitHub project. To do so, make sure you have a GitHub account that uses your institutional email address (@etu.unige.ch). We strongly recommend getting GitHub Pro for free through your institutional e-mail at this link: https://education.github.com/pack.

1. Go to your personal github and create a new project called sdd. Make sure you make the repository private!. Add Brian.Pulfer@unige.ch, Carmen.Zarola@etu.unige.ch and Yassine.El-Younsi@etu.unige.ch as collaborators.
2. Inside the sdd directory, run the following commands to set-up the git repos (only once):

git init # Initializes the git repo
git remote add origin LINK_TO_GITHUB_REPO # Adds the github repo as upstream
git branch -M main # Renames the branch to main
git add . # Adds all files to the staging area
git commit -m "Initial commit." # Commits the changes
git push -u origin main # Pushes the code to github --> Tests are triggered!

3. If you go back to the github page of your project, you should see that the files have been added.

Workflow

The workflow is as follows:

1. When given a new assignment, you will have to implement the functions in the /lib directory (e.g. lib/list/list.h and lib/list/list.c), as well as in the main file for that assignment (e.g. /src/tp2/main.c).
2. Once you have implemented the functions, you can test them locally with make test_all (from MinGW64 terminal on Windows, or from the terminal on MacOS/Linux).
3. You can also test them by pushing your code to GitHub:

git add .
git commit -m "My commit message."
git push #  (pushes to github) -> Monitor the tests on GitHub

4. If all tests pass, you are done! If not, go back to step 1.

Contact

• Teaching Assistants: Brian Pulfer, Victor Reyes Martin
• Monitors: Carmen Zarola, Yassine El-Younsi