TopSpin: nifty assignment
Mark Goadrich · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2011
This assignment is designed for a CS2 Data Structures and Algorithms course, the assignment is based on Java but can be easily ported to other languages. TopSpin is a mechanical puzzle composed of twenty small numbered plastic pieces connected in a loop, where part of the loop overlaps a rotating disc large enough for four pieces. These pieces can be rotated as a group so that different pieces can be in the disc to be rotated. The goal of the puzzle is to place the pieces in ascending order. This assignment asks the students to create new data structures for the TopSpin puzzle using two different underlying implementations, one with arrays and another with circular doubly-linked list nodes.