NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF 
                NIGERIA
          SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND 
              TECHNOLOGY
           COURSE CODE: CIT 341
       COURSE TITLE: DATA STRUCTURES
                               CIT 341                                                                                                 DATA STRUCTURES
                                COURSE 
                                 GUIDE
                               CIT 341
                               DATA STRUCTURES
                               Course Developer/Writer              Vivian Nwaocha
                                                                    National Open University of Nigeria 
                               Programme Leader                     Dr. S. Reju 
                                                                    National Open University of Nigeria
                               Course Coordinator                   Vivian Nwaocha
                                                                    National Open University of Nigeria 
                               NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA
                               ii
                CIT 341                                                                                                 DATA STRUCTURES
                National Open University of Nigeria
                Headquarters
                14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way
                Victoria Island
                Lagos
                Abuja Office
                No. 5 Dar es Salaam Street 
                Off Aminu Kano Crescent
                Wuse II, Abuja
                Nigeria
                e-mail:  centralinfo@nou.edu.ng
                URL:    www.nou.edu.ng
                Published by
                National Open University of Nigeria 
                Printed 2009
                ISBN: 978-058-031-X  
                All Rights Reserved
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                               CIT 341                                                                                                 DATA STRUCTURES
                               CONTENTS                                                               PAGE
                               Introduction………………………………………………………     1
                               What this Course Will Help You Do………………….…………       1
                               Course Aims……………………………………..……………….                                         1
                               Course Objectives…………………………..…………………….                                     1
                               Working through this Course…………………….………………                                 2
                               Course Materials………………………………………..………..                                     2
                               Online Materials…………………………………………………                                        2
                               Equipment………………………………………………….…….                                           2
                               Study Units ………………………………………………………                                          3
                               Assessment………………………………………………….……                                           5
                               Course Overview………………………………………………...                                       5
                               How to Get the Most from this Course……………………..…….                          5
                               Facilitators/Tutors and Tutorials…………………………………                             6
                               Summary………………………………………………….……… 7
                               Introduction
                               The course, Data Structures, is a foundational course for students 
                               studying towards acquiring the Bachelor of Science in Communication 
                               Technology   degree.   In   this   course,   we   will   study   programming 
                               techniques   including   data   structures   and   basic   algorithms   for 
                               manipulating them. 
                               The overall aims of this course are to introduce you to programming 
                               concepts as and algorithm techniques. Topics related to data structures 
                               and storage management are equally discussed.
                               The bottom-up approach is adopted in structuring this course. We start 
                               with the basic building blocks of object-oriented programming concepts 
                               and move on to the fundamental principles of data structures and 
                               algorithms. 
                               What this Course Will Help You Do
                               The overall aims and objectives of this course provide guidance on what 
                               you should be achieving in the course of your studies. Each unit also has 
                               its own unit objectives which state specifically what you should be 
                               achieving   in   the   corresponding   unit.   To   evaluate   your   progress 
                               continuously, you are expected to refer to the overall course aims and 
                               objectives   as   well   as   the   corresponding   unit   objectives   upon   the 
                               completion of each.
                               Course Aims
                               The overall aims and objectives of this course include:
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