CS 104c

Prof. Etienne Vouga
https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~evouga/

Prof. Glenn Downing
https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~downing/

UGCA: Aiyaz Mostofa
Office Hours: TBD, GDC basement

UGCA: Michael Xiang
Office Hours: TBD, GDC basement

Sign in to Canvas and confirm your registration for the course. Check your grades regularly.
Confirm that you can access Ed Discussion on Canvas to post class questions.
If it involves something personal, like your grade, please make a private post on Ed Discussion.
Sign up for a Codeforces account.
Sign up for a GitLab account and clone the class repo to access the slides:
- git clone https://gitlab.com/gpdowning-ut/cs104c.git
Sign up for a CSES account.
Sign up for a Zoom account. You must use your UT EID credentials. Ensure that you have the latest version of the app: 6.7.0

Explores the algorithms needed to solve a given problem, reason about corner cases, and write correct implementations under time pressure.
Focuses on skills useful for international programming competitions, whiteboard job interviews, and programming tasks that require quickly solving challenging problems with creative use of algorithms.

Week	Date	Topic	Contest
1	12 Jan	Intro
2	19 Jan	MLK Day
3	26 Jan	Prefix Sums	1 (team)
4	2 Feb	Graphs, Search, Shortest Path
5	9 Feb	Binary Search	2 (individual)
6	16 Feb	Greedy Algorithms
7	23 Feb	Midterm #1	3 (team)
8	2 Mar	DFS Backtracking
9	9 Mar	Dynamic Programming I	4 (individual)
10	16 Mar	Spring Break
11	23 Mar	Dynamic Programming II
12	30 Mar	Midterm #2	5 (WiCS)
13	16 Apr	Number Theory
14	13 Apr	Union Find
15	20 Apr	String Algorithms
16	27 Apr	Segment Trees
16	TBD	Final Exam

This class is using the Lectures Online recording system. This system records the audio and video material presented in class for you to review after class. Links for the recordings will appear in the Lectures Online tab on the Canvas page for this class. You will find this tab along the left side of the navigation in Canvas.
To review a recording, click on the Lectures Online navigation tab and follow the instructions on the page. You can learn more about how to use the Lectures Online system at http://sites.la.utexas.edu/lecturesonline/students/how-to-access-recordings/.
You can find additional information about Lectures Online at https://sites.la.utexas.edu/lecturesonline/.

Computer Science 311 or 311H with a grade of at least C-, and registration or credit in Computer Science 314 or 314H with a grade of at least C-.

We expect each student to abide by the University of Texas Honor Code: "As a student of The University of Texas at Austin, I shall abide by the university's core values and uphold academic integrity." We permit discussing problem solutions with other students, asking others for conceptual help with a problem, looking online for tutorials explaining how to solve a problem, or getting help from a classmate debugging code you wrote. However, all code you turn in must be your own. The penalty for copying code (either from another student or the Internet) is an F in the course.

Assignments	Lates	Makeups	Resubmissions
Codeforces Problems 1 problem per week for 11 weeks = 11 problems 3 problems per week offered on Codeforces	within two days only twice
Contest Problems 2 problems per contest for 4 contests = 8 problems 5 problems per contest offered on Codeforces			within one week only twice
CSES Problems 1 problem per week for 11 weeks = 11 problems 3 problems per week offered on CSES	within two days only twice
Find-the-Bug Problems 1 problem per week for 11 weeks = 11 problems	within two days only twice
Canvas Quizzes 1 quiz per week for 11 weeks = 11 quizzes on Canvas		within one week only twice oral presentation to Dr. Vouga
Codeforces Tests 2 problems per test for 3 tests = 6 problems 5 problems per test offered on Codeforces		within one week only twice oral presentation to Dr. Vouga Not the final.

Test makeups require a documented emergency excuse, medical excuse or UT-related event.
You must submit an emergency excuse to Student Emergency Services (SES). If the excuse is approved, SES will contact the instructor.

Letter	Codeforces	Contests	CSES	Find the Bug	Quizzes	Tests
	11	8	11	11	11	6
A	10	8	10	10	10	6
B	9	7	9	9	9	5
C	8	6	8	8	8	4
D	7	5	7	7	7	4

Your course grade will depend on the number of assignments you completed. It will then be the lowest grade in all assignment categories.

AI tools (such as UT's Microsoft Copilot) and similar assistants can be valuable resources for learning and improving your code.
However, in this course, you are expected to use AI as a helper, not as a coder.
- Do use AI to ask questions about concepts, debugging strategies, error messages, or ways to improve the clarity, style, or efficiency of your code.
- Do use AI to deepen your understanding of why your code works, or doesn’t, and to learn alternative approaches.
- Do not ask AI to generate solutions, write complete programs, or provide code that you then submit as your own.
The goal is for you to learn to think and code independently.
There is nothing to lose and everything to gain by asking an AI not to do your work but to critique it instead!

The university is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive learning environment consistent with university policy and federal and state law.
Please let us know if you experience any barriers to learning so I can work with you to ensure you have equal opportunity to participate fully in this course.
If you are a student with a disability or think you may have a disability and need accommodations, please get in touch with Disability and Access (D & A).
If you have already registered with D & A, please deliver your Accommodation Letter to me as early as possible in the semester so we can discuss your approved accommodations and needs in this course.

https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/1377522/ is a supplement to all UT syllabi and contains University policies and resources that you can refer to as you engage with and navigate your courses and the university.