CSE 441/541 Lecture Notes 1 - Administrative Stuff

CSE 441/541 Lecture Notes 1 - Administrative Stuff Weixiong Zhang August 27, 2012

Before class, write URL on board: http://www.cse.wustl.edu/∼zhang/teaching/cse441/Fall2012/index.html Also: Weixiong Zhang, Office: Jolley 528, 935-8788

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Welcome and Administrivia

Welcome to CSE 441/541! • This is a course about algorithms. What does that mean? • Not a course designed to passively teach specific algorithms. (That was 241.) • Rather, a course for you to learn how to design and analyze your own algorithms. • Course is designed to teach these skills • “Active learning” – no good unless you engage with the material!!! How is this course structured? • Lectures: illustrative examples of algorithmic techniques that work for many problems. • Practice Problems: ungraded problems with solutions to reinforce understanding of techniques • Recitation/Studio: led by TA, to develop proof skills in an interactive setting and improve understanding of material 1

• Homeworks (50-%): graded problems without solutions to see if you can apply techniques to new problems • Exams (50+%): final opportunity to demonstrate that you’ve mastered the techniques What do you need to know right now? • The course web site is your friend. All assignments and practice problems will appear there. • Read the course overview! It has all these administrative details. • There is a collaboration policy for homeworks (not practice probs) – tries to balance fun of collective problem solving with promotion of individual skill building and assessment. – Please limit group problem solving to at most 3 people at once – Nothing written brought to discussion or carried away – “Iron Chef Rule” – one hour between discussion and writeups – Report (on the cover page of your homework) any assistance you receive. You will have to sign a statement with each homework saying that you’ve followed collaboration policy. • 541 is more work than 441 (extra problems on homeworks and exams). Can move up to 541 until first homework is turned in; can move down until late drop deadline (Nov 16). Who is here to help you, and how do you contact us? • TAs: Zheng Chen ([email protected]) and Jing Xia ([email protected]) • To contact just me: [email protected] • My office hours (starting next week): Wed 2:30-3:30 • TA office hours: TBA, Jolley 542. What do I expect you to know already? • First: how to write a basic proof of correctness and/or running time 2

• (But I also try to teach this at a more advanced level!) • Given a problem statement, I always expect you to produce 1. An effective method for solving the problem (“algorithm”) 2. A proof that the algorithm correctly solves the problem 3. A proof that the algorithm is efficient (running-time analysis) • Second: asymptotic complexity analysis • Third: basic data structures: hashing, sorting and searching, binary trees (including results, but not implementation, for balanced trees), elementary graph algorithms • To warm up and check your grasp of the above skills, there is an ungraded “Homework 0” on the web site. You should be able to do all the problems found there and produce suitable formal proofs. • If you have doubts about Homework 0 or want me to look at your solutions, talk to me (soon). OK, on to the fun stuff...

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