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Description. This course surveys the most important algorithms and data structures in use on computers today. Particular emphasis is given to algorithms for sorting, searching, and string processing. Fundamental algorithms in a number of other areas are covered as well, including geometric and graph algorithms. The course will concentrate on developing implementations, understanding their performance characteristics, and estimating their potential effectiveness in applications.
Prerequisites. COS 126 or ISC 231–234 or approval by the COS placement officer.
Traditional lectures. Attendance is required. Laptops, tablets, and phones are prohibited, except for activities directly related to lecture, such as viewing lecture slides and taking notes. You are responsible for all material presented in lecture; some of that material is not covered in the textbook.
Flipped lectures. As an alternative to traditional lectures, we are offering a flipped lecture option, in which you watch and tag video lectures online before class and solve problems in class. Enrollment is limited to 30 students.
Precepts. We cover details pertinent to programming assignments and exams. You should come to precept prepared to participate in the discussion, not just ask questions.
Course staff. You are welcome to attend the office hours of any staff member. Office hours begin Wednesday, February 4.
| TIME | ROOM | PERSON | OFFICE | HOURS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L01 | M W 11–12:20pm |
McCosh 10 |
Kevin Wayne |
CS 207 |
Mon 1:30–3:30pm |
| L02 | M W 11–12:20pm |
Frist 307 |
Andy Guna |
221 Nassau St. Room 103 |
Tue 10–12pm |
| P01 | Th 11–11:50am |
Friend 108 |
Andy Guna † |
221 Nassau St. Room 103 |
Tue 10–12pm |
| P01A | Th 11–11:50am |
Friend 109 |
Shivam Agarwal |
CS 302 |
Tue 6–8pm |
| P02 | Th 12:30–1:20pm |
Friend 108 |
Andy Guna † |
221 Nassau St. Room 103 |
Tue 10–12pm |
| P03 | Th 1:30–2:20pm |
Friend 108 |
Swati Roy |
221 Nassau |
Tue 12–2pm |
| P04 | F 10–10:50am |
Friend 108 |
Robert MacDavid |
CS 302 |
Tue 4:30–6:30pm |
| P05 | F 11–11:50am |
Friend 108 |
Robert MacDavid |
CS 302 |
Tue 4:30–6:30pm |
| P05A | F 11–11:50am |
Friend 109 |
Shivam Agarwal |
CS 302 |
Tue 6–8pm |
| P06 | F 2:30–3:20pm |
Friend 108 |
Jérémie Lumbroso † |
CS 209 |
By appt |
| P06A | F 2:30–3:20pm |
CS 102 |
Josh Wetzel |
Icahn 253 |
Fri 4–6pm |
| P06B | F 2:30–3:20pm |
Friend 112 |
Ryan Beckett |
CS 242 |
Sun 2–4pm |
| P07 | F 3:30–4:20pm |
Friend 108 |
Jérémie Lumbroso † |
CS 209 |
By appt |
| † co-lead preceptors |
The staff is complemented by Graduate Student Graders (Bebe Shi and Terry Wang) and Undergraduate Course Assistants (Enric Boix, Dorothy Chen, Christopher R. Hay, Varun Narayan, Esther Rolf, Utsarga Sikder, Vibhaa Sivaraman, Sara Sun, Victor Xu, Glenna Yu, and Tiancheng Zheng).
Online forum. If you have questions about the assignments, lectures, textbook, or other course materials, please post via Piazza. Posts marked private are viewable only by the course staff.
Grading. Your grade for the course will be based on the following components: programming assignments (45%), midterm exam (15%), final exam (25%), exercises (10%), and participation (5%). Participation includes using iClickers, contributing to the flipped lectures, participating in precepts, and answering forum posts. Occasionally, we make mistakes. To request a regrade, write a brief note indicating the perceived mistake by the grader; attach it to your graded work; and give it to your preceptor within two weeks of when the graded work was returned.
Course website. The course website
http://www.princeton.edu/~cos226includes links to course content, including programming assignments, exercises, lecture slides, and old exams. You will also use it to submit programming assignments.
Readings. The following textbook is required. It contains a wealth of information beyond what we can cover in lecture; it is certain to enhance your understanding of algorithms and data structures.
iClickers. To make the lectures more interactive, we will be using iClickers in the traditional lectures. Any hardware version of the iClicker (set to default frequency AA) is suitable. You cannot use iClicker GO because the lecture hall has insufficient connectivity.
Programming assignments. The programming assignments involve applying the material from lecture to solve problems in science, engineering, and commerce.
Exercises. The exercises consist of short drill questions on the material in the lectures and readings.
Exams. The in-class midterm exam is Wednesday, March 11. The final exam is 9am on Saturday, May 16.
Computers. You may develop your programs on any machine that you like: we encourage you to use your own equipment. We provide instructions for setting up a Java programming environment under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Laboratories. Undergraduate lab TAs are available to answer general computing questions in the Friend 017 lab. They can assist you in debugging, provided you have first made a reasonable effort to identify the bug and isolate the problem. If you have questions regarding the course material or programming assignments, see your preceptor or instructor.
