CS 401 Computer Algorithms

Spring, 2021
Time and location: Tuesday Thursday 3:30-4:45pm, Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
Intructor: Anastasios Sidiropoulos, sidiropo@uic.edu, office hours: Thursday 12:30-1:30pm, Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
TA: Danyal Saeed, dsaeed3@uic.edu, office hours: TBA

Overview

The goal of this course is to present fundamental techniques in the design and analysis of algorithms, including the greedy method, dynamic programming, and divide and conquer. These methods are presented in the context of various algorithmic problems, such as shortest paths, minimum spanning trees, and network flows. The course also discusses limitations in the design of algorithms for certain computationally intractable problems, using the language of NP-completeness.

Textbook

Algorithm Design, by Jon Kleinberg and Eva Tardos.

Evaluation

There will be one midterm, a final exam, several homeworks, and several programming assignments. The final exam will be comprehensive. All lectures and office hours will take place over Blackboard Collaborate Ultra. The homeworks will be posted on Piazza. Each homework will be due before the beginning of a predetermined lecture. No late assignments will be accepted. The final score is computed using the formula: 0.25 × homeworks + 0.25 × programming assigmnents + 0.25 × midterm + 0.25 × final. The final letter gade will be curved. All the scores and grades will be posted on Blackboard.

Final exam

TBA

Lectures