Dr. Lisa Michaud - michaudl@merrimack.edu - x3404 - AIM screenname on request
Links to Use and Due Soon
Coming up on Friday, May 4th:
- Final Exam Review Session (participation gets you: dropped homework grade)
Course Overview
At the heart of Computer Science is finding and implementing the solutions to the puzzles that face us. The word "algorithm" essentially means a step-by-step plan for accomplishing a task, and the study of these plans has two faces: firstly, we investigate the body of existing solutions to well-known problems, learning how to implement them, and to analyze them for efficiency and accuracy; secondly, we learn about how to extrapolate from these solutions, to apply specific techniques and to master the skills involved in coming up with our own algorithms.
The learning objectives of this course are to:
- Understand the analysis of asymptotic performance of algorithmic solutions to problems.
- Be able to prove the correctness of performance analyses.
- Understand the basic strategies for developing algorithmic solutions to problems, including brute force, divide and conquer, and greedy techniques.
- Be familiar with algorithmic solutions to a set of standard computer science problems.
- Understand the limits of algorithmic solutions to problems through the introduction of NP-complete problems.
Course Schedule
| Lecture (Mendel 159) | Mon / Wed / Fri |
9:00am - 9:50am |
| Lab (Mendel 159) | Fridays |
9:50am - 10:40am |
Office Hours |
Tuesday |
10:30am - 11:30am |
| Wednesday | 3:00pm - 4:00pm | |
| Thursday | 1:30pm - 3:00pm | |
| (Other) | by appointment |
This course meets three times a week for lecture, and one extended class meeting on Fridays for a lab. Labs will typically cover exercises which illustrate recent lecture topics. Attendance in lecture is strongly suggested; you are responsible for obtaining class notes and learning material that you miss before the next class convenes. Attendance in lab is mandatory; no credit is given for a lab that is missed.
Attendance will be taken on random days on the hour when class starts. Consistently coming late to class will result in a penalty applied to the term grade.
Information and announcements will be frequently communicated via email. It is the student's responsibility to check for email announcements on a regular basis throughout the week. Emails will usually be sent from the Blackboard system, so make certain the email address you have registered in Blackboard is the one at which you prefer to receive emails.
Required Textbook
This course has one required textbook, Introduction to The Design & Analysis of Algorithms, by Anany Levitin, 3rd Edition. You are responsible for keeping pace with the material in lecture by reading the coverage of the topic in the text either before or immediately after it is covered in class.
Website
If you are viewing this syllabus on paper, check out the frequently-updated website version at: