CSCE310: Data Structures and Algorithms

Prereq: CSCE156 (Intro. to CS II) and CSCE235 (Intro. to Discrete Structures).

Course description: In this course you will learn the basis of the design and analysis of algorithms. The following topics will be addressed, time permitting: asymptotic analysis, greedy, divide and conquer, search, sort, algorithms on trees, graphs, dynamic programming, NP-completeness, etc.

Time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:20 p.m.

Place: Room 217, Ferguson Hall

Instructor:   Prof. Berthe Y. Choueiry
                      Room 104, Ferguson Hall,
                      choueiry@cse.unl.edu, tel: (402)472-5444.
                      Office hours: Mon/Fri from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., or by appointment.

TAs:

Ms Xin LI

Office hours:

Ms Gennette Gill

email

Mr Joel Gompert

email

Class schedule: the page will be regularly updated. Check it out often for reference to required and recommended reading material, homework texts, and announcements.

Required textbook (check the bookstore): Introduction to Algorithms, Cormen, Leiserson, and Rivest. Love library: QA76.6 .C662 1990 pt.1 and pt.2

Protocol of the course:

Lectures by instructor, 3 times per week.
The workload will consist of:

required reading (as indicated in the Class schedule): the textbook will be followed in a more or less linear fashion. It is your responsibility to read the material in the book and make sure you understand.
programming and theoretical assignments: Programming assignments must be done in C++ and turned in before 11:59 p.m. on the due date. Usually, homeworks must be turned in using the UNIX handin program on cse.unl.edu. Pen-and-paper assignments must be given to the instructor right before the lecture on the due date. Late homeworks are subject to a 20% deduction per day (including week-ends), any second after the due date counts as an entire day. Each student has a 5-day late-return credit, to be used at discretion. No question asked, no further extensions ever given. Make sure you inform both instructor and TA when you use your privilege.
tests: There will be a pre-test, a mid-term and a final. Tests cannot be taken in advance. Tests cannot be made up except by instructor's permission.

It is the student's responsibility to ensure an account on cse.unl.edu.
Discussions among students, instructor, and TA are encouraged. Homeworks however are a strictly individual activity: no sharing is permitted (unless when specified by instructor). Unethical behavior will be heavily sanctioned (e.g., a null grade on the task).
If you decide to work in team (which is not permitted) always acknowledge any help received from other individuals.
Always fully reference material used (e.g., encyclopedia, book, paper, journal, web site).
Attendance is not mandatory. But students are responsible for the material covered and announcements made during the class.

Grading policy:

The plan is to partition the grades as follows:

Pre-test: 5%
6-8 homework assignments: 35%. (Programming assignments will be graded as follows: 70% for correctness, 15% for programming style, and 15% for documentation.)
Midterm: 30%
Final: 30%

Bonuses will be awarded to students who interact during lecture (answer questions, solve challenge problems, etc.)

Grade conversion:

>94%	A+
90--94	A
85--89	B+
80--84	B
70--79	C+
60--69	C
55--59	D+
50--54	D
<=50	F

Acknowledgement: Much of the material is borrowed from Fall2000/CSCE310, courtesy of Dr. Chuck Cusack, and other similar courses on the Web.

Berthe Y. Choueiry

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