CS 315: Algorithms & Data Structures

Fall 2009: TTh 2-3:30 in PHR 2.110

TAs:

• Thomas Finsterbusch, tfinster@cs.utexas.edu           Office Hours: Tue 4-6pm Desk 1 in ENS 31NQ, Fri 1:30 - 2:30pm Desk 5 in ENS 31NQ.
• Varun Jain, varunjn@cs.utexas.edu           grades papers for Thomas's sections.
• Yulin Li, yulinli@cs.utexas.edu           Office Hours: M 2 - 3:30 and T 3:30 - 5 in TAY 5.142
• Wei Dong, wdong86@cs.utexas.edu           Office Hours: Monday 3:30-5:00 and Tuesday 11:30-1:00 at Desk 6 in ENS 31NQ.

Lab Proctors:

• Phillip Verheyden: pverheyden@gmail.com M 11-1, T 11-2, W 11-5, Th 11-2, F 11-5 in the 5th floor Painter lab.
• Fred Kuo: fredfkuo@gmail.com M 1:30-6:00p, T 9:00-1:30p and 3:30-6:00p, W 9:00-10:00a Th 9:00-10:00a and 3:30-6:00p, F 9:00-10:00a, Sun 3:00-6:00p in Taylor basement.

Text: Mark Allen Weiss, Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in Java, 2nd Ed.; Amazon; Barnes & Noble.

Course Notes: Strongly recommended; obtain at WEL 2.228. Online by Contents or Index or PDF      DO NOT print out the slides on CS department printers.

Web Page: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/novak/cs315.html

Programming assignments will mainly be done in Java, with options to do some in Lisp. Program files may be provided for use with the assignments, in the directory /projects/cs315/ or in the FTP directory for Program Files, ftp://ftp.cs.utexas.edu/pub/novak/cs315/ It is legal to use any of these files as part of your programs.

Prerequisite:

Topics:

• Introduction: why we need clever algorithms and data structures.
• Performance: Big O: how much time and storage are needed as data sizes become large
• Some Lisp: (+ x 3)
• Lists and Recursion; Stacks and Queues
• Trees and Tree Recursion
• Using Library Packages
• Balanced Trees and Maps
• Hashing and randomization; XOR
• Heaps and Priority Queues
• Sorting, Merge
• Graphs
• Map, Reduce, and MapReduce

Course grades are assigned on the scale A = 93-100, A- = 90-93, B+ = 87-90, B = 83-87, B- = 80-83, etc. provided that the Final Exam grade is at least 65; if the Final Exam grade is below 65, a lower course grade may be assigned at the instructor's discretion. Grades are averaged using the following weights:

Attendance	10%
Midterm Exam	20%		Thursday, October 15, in class
Final Exam	30%		Saturday, December 12, 7-10 PM
Programming Assignments	40%

Each student will get 3 free absences; longer absences for things such as serious illness will be granted when documented. There will be a 10% per day late penalty for late programming assignments up to 4 days; no late assignments will be accepted after 4 days.

Programming projects must be your own individual work. Students may discuss concepts or help with specific problems in another student's code. However, sharing code constitutes plagiarism. Students may not work together on program design. The Moss program will sometimes be used to detect duplicated programs. It is not possible to pass the course without doing the programming assignments.