Course Format
I think there were optional pre-readings. Lectures were more traditional, with some problems to solve. There are weekly labs in C++ and assignments, that sometimes involved doing summations or writing C++.
Importance of Course
Understanding data structures and algorithms is not essential to writing code, but it’s essential to writing good code, especially if you decide to dive into lower-level computer stuff (it’s also pretty important information for those technical interviews). So make sure you pay attention in this course! Make sure you really understand what a pointer is, because C error messages aren’t very helpful, and most of the time you have to just sit and think to solve a bug.
My Thoughts
This course is pretty much your standard data structures and algorithms courses. As someone who is not very good with this stuff, I found this course difficult at times (not to mention, it’s taught in C++). I had a really hard time understanding how pointers worked and other things like pass by reference vs. pass by value. After I took CPSC 213, my understanding of pointers was much better. If you want a really good understanding of pointers before you taken this course, I recommend you take CPSC 213 before or concurrently with this course.