CS3000: Algorithms & Data
Time & Location:
2:50 - 4:30pm, MW, Shillman 335
Staff
Instructor: Paul Hand
Office: Lake 523
Office Hours: Monday 1:15-2:45pm
Teaching Assistant: Abdel Rahman Madkour
Office Hours: Tuesday 5:00-6:30 PM
Location: WVH 166-168
Teaching Assistant: Emily Shi
Office Hours: Monday 5:00-6:30 PM
Location: WVH 366
Teaching Assistant: Koosh Doctor
Office Hours: Friday 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Location: WVH 362
Teaching Assistant: Tian Xia
Office Hours: Tuesday 5:00-6:30 PM
Location: WVH 166-168
Important Links
Piazza: We will use Piazza for the course.
Sign up.
Gradescope: We will use Gradescope for the course.
Log in.
Overview
This is an introductory course in algorithms. Although any computer program can be viewed as an implementation of an algorithm for solving a particular computational problem, in this course we focus not on the programs themselves but on the underlying computational problems, and general algorithmic techniques for solving these problems. In this course, we will:
- See a wide range of computational problems arising in different applications
- Learn how to formulate these problems precisely from somewhat informal descriptions
- Learn new algorithmic design techniques used to solve these computational problems
- Learn techniques to prove correctness of algorithms
- Learn techniques to analyze the efficiency of algorithms
- Learn how to transform algorithms to programs
Last year's course schedule will give you even more of a sense of what is covered in this course.
Discussion Forum: Piazza
We will be using Piazza for class discussion. The system will make it possible to get help quickly and and efficiently from classmates, the TA, and myself. Rather than emailing questions to the teaching staff, I strongly encourage you to post your questions on Piazza. If you have any problems or feedback for the developers, email
team@piazza.com.
Textbook
Reading will be assigned mainly from
You may find them useful as a reference or as an alternative perspective on some of the material, but they are not required:
Homework Policies
- All homework will be submitted through Gradescope as a PDF.
- All homework solutions must be typeset in LaTeX. I will provide the source files for the HW assignments to help you get started. See below for some advice on LaTeX. Learning LaTeX can take some time, but is well worth the investment, since most technical publications are written in LaTeX. Great editors exist on most platforms. I recommend TexShop for Mac. TeXstudio is a good cross-platform editor. The not so short introduction to LaTeX is a good reference to get you started.
- The lowest homework score will be dropped from your grade.
- I encourage you to work with your classmates on the homework problems. If you do collaborate, you must write all solutions by yourself, in your own words, and are strictly forbidden from sharing any written solutions. You must list all of your collaborators on your submission. The TAs and I reserve the right to ask you explain your solutions.
- No late homework will be accepted. Extensions will be granted only in rare, extreme, and verifiable circumstances. If you know that you wont be able to get a certain assignment in, plan ahead so that you can use this as the one homework score that you drop.
Grading
The final course grade will be computed based on a weighted average of:
- homework (45%)
- two midterms (15% each)
- final exam (25%)