Recommendation

Has Potential

Link

http://www.cs.hut.fi/Research/TRAKLA2/exercises/InterpolationSearch.html

Delivery Method

Java Application

License

GPL

Language

English

Author

Ville Karavirta; Ari Korhonen; Lauri Malmi; Kimmo Stålnacke

Institution

Helsinki University of Technology

Project

Trakla2

RelationshipToProject

PartOfProject

Works

Yes

Description

User works through an exercise demonstrating proficiency at determining which positions in the array are visited during an interpolation search. Pseudocode is provided to work from.

Evaluation

No explanation of the algorithm is provided, so this exercise will need to be integrated with some form of instruction (lecture or textbook). The only problem with this AV is that the user has to do a lot of calculation (computing the interpolated index where the algorithm will search next).

ActivityLevel

Canned Data; Predictions

GoodFor

Lecture Aid; Self Study; Lab Exercise

Screenshots

Videos

References

HowToUse

First Visited

2008-07-25

Last Visited

2008-07-25

Last Updated

2006-01-25

Topic

InterpolationSearch

Community

Edit

You may edit this entry if you have an account.

Recommendation

Has Potential

Link

http://www.animal.ahrgr.de/showAnimationDetails.php3?anim=34; http://www.animal.ahrgr.de/showAnimationDetails.php3?anim=89

Delivery Method

Animal Animation

License

Non-Commercial

Language

English; German

Author

Carsten Schwender

Institution

TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

Project

Animal

RelationshipToProject

PartOfProject

Works

Yes

Description

Presents a slideshow with a small example of interpolation search. The site has two versions: One showing a walkthrough of a successful search, and one showing a walkthrough of an unsuccessful search.

Evaluation

This has a lot of problems, and verges on "not recommended." But there are few AVs available on this topic. The page linked above contains some explanation for interpolation search, but unfortunately this material was not carried into the AV itself (which could be easily done since it is a slideshow presentation). Even so, the description doesn't do justice to the topic, which needs significant interpretation to be understandable by students. This is a case were the bare algorithm is only the start of a meaningful discussion, so this AV cannot stand alone. As a presentation of the algorithm, it could use some more clarity. It is hard to for users to integrate the information in the variable boxes on the right with the pseudocode and the array. There are also problems with the design of having the action overwriting the pseudocode. Finally, there is a bug with the colors not working right (a problem for all Animal presentations with current Java versions) that makes the presentation especially hard to follow.

ActivityLevel

Animation; Step Control; Canned Data

GoodFor

Lecture Aid; Self Study

Screenshots

Videos

References

HowToUse

For detailed instructions on how to install Animal and run Animal AVs, see: http://www.algoanim.info/Animal2/?q=node/290. Once you have installed the Animal .jar file and downloaded/unpacked the .zip file of Animal animations, you are now ready to run Animal. Run the .jar file to start Animal. Then go to the "Open" menu item, and browse to where you put the animal animations you got in the .zip file. Pick this AV from the list. You can then step through the animation, or use "kiosk mode" to have the steps fed to you at a constant pace.

First Visited

2007-07-21

Last Visited

2010-02-05

Last Updated

1999-05-10

Topic

InterpolationSearch

Community

Edit

You may edit this entry if you have an account.