In this week's Sprint you implemented some classic and fundamental data structures and learned about how to go about evaluating their respective runtimes and performance. This Sprint Challenge aims to assess your comfort with these topics through exercises that build on the data structures you implemented and the algorithmic intuition you've started to build up.
Read these instructions carefully. Understand exactly what is expected before starting this Sprint Challenge.
This is an individual assessment. All work must be your own. Your Challenge score is a measure of your ability to work independently using the material covered throughout this sprint. You need to demonstrate proficiency in the concepts and objectives that were introduced and that you practiced in the preceding days.
You are not allowed to collaborate during the Sprint Challenge. However, you are encouraged to follow the twenty-minute rule and seek support from your TL and Instructor in your cohort help channel on Slack. Your submitted work reflects your proficiency in the concepts and topics that were covered this week.
You have three hours to complete this Sprint Challenge. Plan your time accordingly.
Commit your code regularly and meaningfully. This helps both you (in case you ever need to return to old code for any number of reasons) and it also helps your project manager to more thoroughly assess your work.
This Sprint Challenge is split into three parts:
- Implement a data structure called a ring buffer (more details below)
- Optimizing some inefficient code
- Reversing the contents of a singly linked list
A ring buffer is a non-growable buffer with a fixed size. When the ring buffer is full and a new element is inserted, the oldest element in the ring buffer is overwritten with the newest element. This kind of data structure is very useful for use cases such as storing logs and history information, where you typically want to store information up until it reaches a certain age, after which you don't care about it anymore and don't mind seeing it overwritten by newer data.
Implement this behavior in the RingBuffer class. RingBuffer has two methods, append and get. The append method adds the given element to the buffer. The get method returns all of the elements in the buffer in a list in their given order. It should not return any None values in the list even if they are present in the ring buffer.
For example:
buffer = RingBuffer(3)
buffer.get() # should return []
buffer.append('a')
buffer.append('b')
buffer.append('c')
buffer.get() # should return ['a', 'b', 'c']
# 'd' overwrites the oldest value in the ring buffer, which is 'a'
buffer.append('d')
buffer.get() # should return ['d', 'b', 'c']
buffer.append('e')
buffer.append('f')
buffer.get() # should return ['d', 'e', 'f']- Say your code from
names.pyis to run on an embedded computer with very limited RAM. Because of this, memory is extremely constrained and you are only allowed to store names in arrays (i.e. Python lists). How would you go about optimizing the code under these conditions? Try it out and compare your solution to the original runtime. (If this solution is less efficient than your original solution, include both and label the strech solution with a comment)
| TASK | 1 - DOES NOT MEET Expectations | 2 - MEETS Expectations | 3 - EXCEEDS Expectations | SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task 1. Implement a Ring Buffer Data Structure | Solution in ring_buffer.py DOES NOT run OR it runs but has multiple logical errors, failing 2 or more tests. |
Solution in ring_buffer.py runs, but may have one or two logical errors; passes at least 5/6 tests (Note that each function in the test file that begins with test is a test). |
Solution in ring_buffer.py has no syntax or logical errors and passes all tests (Note that each function in the test file that begins with test is a test). |
|
| Task 2. Runtime Optimization | Student does NOT correctly identify the runtime of the starter code in name.py and is not able to optimize it to run in under 6 seconds using a data structure that was implemented during the week. |
Student does not identify the runtime of the starter code in name.py, but optimizes it to run in under 6 seconds, with a solution that exhibits the appropriate runtime, using a data structure that was implemented during the week |
Student does BOTH correctly identify the runtime of the starter code in name.py and optimizes it to run in under 6 seconds, with an appropriate runtime using a data structure that was implemented during the week. |
|
| Task 3. Reverse the contents of a Singly Linked List | Student's solution in reverse.py is failing one or more tests. |
Student's solution in reverse.py is able to correctly print out the contents of the Linked List in reverse order, passing all tests, BUT, the runtime of their solution is not optimal (requires looping through the list more than once). |
Student's solution in reverse.py is able to correctly print out the contents of the Linked List in reverse order, passing all tests AND exhibits an appropriate runtime. |
Score ranges for a 1, 2, and 3 are shown in the rubric above. For a student to have passed a sprint challenge, they need to earn an at least 2 for all items on the rubric.