DFINITY-Education / data-structures

In this course, students will learn about the foundational elements of data structures as well as how they work on the Internet Computer. Module 1 serves as an intro to this unit, providing context for data structure design and the tradeoffs to consider when weighing which to use in certain projects. Module 2 and 3 explore the distinction between Motoko's differing styles for writing data structures: object-oriented (collection of functions that mutate state), and pure (no methods, no mutations). Module 4 builds on the data structures explored so far. Students will get hands-on experience via the IC's `BigMap` library, learning to scale their data structures beyond a single canister in the process.

Table of Contents

• Module 1: Data Structures on the Internet Computer
• Module 2: Object-Oriented Data Structure: Bloom Filters
• Module 3: Pure Data Structures: Binary Search Trees
• Module 4: Scaling Data Structures with BigMap

About

In this course, students will learn about the foundational elements of data structures as well as how they work on the Internet Computer. Module 1 serves as an intro to this unit, providing context for data structure design and the tradeoffs to consider when weighing which to use in certain projects. Module 2 and 3 explore the distinction between Motoko's differing styles for writing data structures: object-oriented (collection of functions that mutate state), and pure (no methods, no mutations). Module 4 builds on the data structures explored so far. Students will get hands-on experience via the IC's BigMap library, learning to scale their data structures beyond a single canister in the process.

Content

The provided content was developed in collaboration with the following students:

• Nick Zoghb, a graduate of University of California, Berkeley (2018) with a focus on Computer Science and Bioengineering
• Connor Solimano, a student at Harvard College (2022) pursuing a degree in Computer Science and Economics