Using the Jeliot Tool

The Data structures and algorithms course is focused on understanding the performance and resource constraints and the impact of different coding techniquesin terms of performance and space. As such the focus is on understanding data structures and algorithms in great detail and not in creating complex code. To facilitate this in depth understanding we will be using a tool called Jeliot that was created by scholars at the University of Eastern Finland, School of Computing.

Our focus in data structures and algorithms is on understanding basic data structures, the algorithms that implement them, and other fundamental data structures. A key focus will be on understanding the performance of our algorithms and being able to conduct an Asymptotic analysis of different algorithms to determine their performance characteristics and their suitabilityto solve a particular problem. To accomplish this goal, all of our algorithms will be constructed using primitive elements of Java. The Jeliot tool will support primitive elements of the Java language, but does not support manyoftheclasspackagesthatcanbeutilizedinatypicaljavaprogram. Thislimitation ofthetooliswellalignedwiththeobjectivesofthiscourse. Thereareexamplesand materials on the Jeliot web site that indicate what external classes may be imported and used in an algorithm created within the Jeliot environment, however, be aware that it is very limited.

One of the nice features of the Jeliot environment is the fact that it can execute directlyfromabrowser. IfyouareusingeitherFireFoxorInternetExplorer,you can execute Jeliot by opening the following URL (http://cs.uef.fi/jeliot/javaws/jeliot.jnlp) with your browser. More information including instructions for using Jeliot and projects can be found at the project website at this URL (http://cs.uef.fi/jeliot/index.php)