Data Structures and Algorithms

CS 130A - Fall 2024


[ Home | Lectures ]

COURSE INFO


CLASS TIMES: Mondays and Wednesdays 11am - 12:15pm in ILP 1101
                        Detailed course info (including assignments) on Canvas

INSTRUCTOR:   Eric Vigoda,
TAs:   See Ed
Office hours: To be posted on Ed Discussion


TEXTBOOK: (required)
Algorithms by Dasgupta, Papadimitriou, and Vazirani [DPV]
(Note, exercise/section numbers may differ in any unofficial online versions.)

Recommended additional resource:
Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C++ by Weiss [W]

 TOPICS COVERED:
  • Graph algorithms
  • Hashing
  • Data Structures, including Binary Search Trees

    • GRADING SCHEME:
    1. Homeworks: 15%
    2. Daily quizzes: 10% (quiz after every lecture, will drop lowest)
    3. Project 1 (Kattis): 20%
    4. Project 2 (Hashing): 10%
    5. Midterm exam: 20%
    6. Final exam: 25%
      (The final will be cumulative.)
    You need an overall course average of ≥70% to pass the course. Below 70% is an F.

    DAILY QUIZ:
    Following every class there will be a short quiz posted on Gradescope. It is due by 11:59pm the following day. Note, this is a strict deadline. They are autograded so make sure to enter your answer in the correct format.
    EXAMS:
    There will be a midterm exam and a final exam.
    The tentative exam date is listed on the lecture schedule page.
    The final exam date/time is specified by the registrar and cannot be modified.
    No books, no notes, no calculators.
    We will provide scrap paper.


    DSP:
    If you have special accommodations for testing or homeworks then you should discuss it with me during the first week of classes.

    Exam Absences:
    If you have an institute approved absence around an exam date then notify the instructor at least 10 days in advance and email me a copy of the institute approved absence from the Dean of Students. If you are sick for an exam then you need to submit documentation to the Dean of Students and then email the instructor an excused absence letter from the Dean of Students (we cannot be privy to any medical information).

    Cheating:
    Any evidence of cheating or plagiarism on homeworks or exams will be immediately reported to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given an F for the course.
    There are typically multiple versions of the exam so it is easy to identify students who copy from other students. Kattis automatically checks for plagiarism.
    Copying homeworks or code from the web or from other sources (such as your friends in class) is considered plagiarism. If you work together make sure to write up your solutions from scratch on your own.

    HOMEWORK POLICIES:
     Submissions:
    Homeworks are submitted via Gradescope.
    You can not consult or look at any sources (including the web or your classmates) for solutions to the homework.
    No late homeworks will be accepted since we will often discuss the solutions during
    class and solution sets will be posted to Canvas after the homeworks are collected.

    Collaboration:
    Homework solutions must be in your own words.
    It is probably best to try the homework on your own first. For the challenging problems, it might be useful to work together with other students. However, you should redo the solution from scratch by yourself, and write it up in your own words.
    List at the top of your homework who you collaborated with.
    Note homeworks are not worth much, the point of homeworks is to practice and learn the material so copying the solutions does not serve much purpose.
    We will typically do a fast grading of the homeworks and only of a subset of the problems, so you should double-check the solutions yourself.