Teaching data structures and algorithms in a software engineering degree: some experience with Java

The paper describes experience of redesigning, as part of an undergraduate degree programme in software engineering, a course in one of its related disciplines, namely data structures and algorithms. This redesign was required to adapt the course from an imperative language (namely Modula-2) to an object oriented one (namely Java). The paper describes the aims that were established for this course, in order to reflect the requirements of the software engineering programme, and it discusses how the content of the module was determined by these aims and by the relevant features of Java. This provides a basis for qualitative evaluations of the impact of these Java features on the delivery of such a course, and the contribution of the course to the programme as a whole.