See the index page for categorical listings of all assignments and topics.

Week 1: Introduction and Basic Concepts (Mostly review of ICS 211, 141 and 241)

  • Mon 01/09: #1 & #4 - Introduction to Course, Review of Basic Data Structures

    • Reading: CLRS Chapters 1 & 10

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 01, Topic 04

    • Screencasts: 01A-C (in Laulima Wiki), 04A, 04B

  • Wed 01/11: #3 Growth of Functions and Asymptotic Concepts

  • Fri 01/13:

    • Due: Problem Set #1 (Topics 1, 3, & 4) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 2: Algorithm Correctness and Analysis

  • Mon 01/16: HOLIDAY

  • Wed 01/18: #2 - Proving Correctness, Analyzing Algorithms

  • Fri 01/20:

    • Due: Problem Set #2 (Topic 2) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 3: Divide & Conquer and Analysis of Recurrences, Heaps and Priority Queues

  • Mon 01/23:#7 - Divide & Conquer and Analysis of Recurrences:

    • Reading: CLRS Sections 2.3, 4.1 & 4.3-4.5

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 07

    • Screencasts: 02D (in Laulima), 02E (in Laulima), 07A, 07B, 07C, 07D

    • (Additional Screencasts): MIT Lecture 02 (16:51-end), MIT Lecture 03 (through about 13:07  —  we don't cover Strassen or Fibonacci numbers).

  • Wed 01/25: #9 - Heap, Heapsort and Priority Queues:

  • Fri 01/27:

    • Due: Problem Set #3 (Topics 7 & 9) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 4: Binary Search Trees

  • Mon 01/30: #8 - Binary Search Trees:

  • Wed 02/01: #11 - 2-3-4 Trees and Red-Black Trees:

    • Reading: Sedgewick Chapter 15 (in Laulima) & CLRS Chapter 13

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 11

    • Screencasts: 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D

    • (Additional Screencasts): MIT Lecture 10 (Read Sedgewick first to understand the 2-4 tree and how a RBT is a representation of a 2-4 tree.)

    • Allow extra time for this material!

  • Fri 02/03:

    • Due: Problem Set #4 (Topics 8 & 11) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 5: Probabilistic Analysis and Randomized Algorithms

  • Mon 02/06: #5a - Probabilistic Analysis:

    • Reading: CLRS Chapter 5.1-5.3

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 05A

    • Screencasts: 05A, 05B

  • Wed 02/08: #5b - Randomized Algorithms, Quicksort:

    • Reading: CLRS Chapter 7 (all)

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 05B

    • Screencasts: 10A, 10B

  • Fri 02/10:

    • Due: Problem Set #5 (Topics 5a & 5b) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 6: HashTables, Selection and Order Statistics

  • Mon 02/13: #6 - Hash Tables:

  • Wed 02/15: #10a - Selection and Order Statistics:

    • Reading: CLRS Chapter 9 (all)

    • Lecture Notes: None

    • Screencast: MIT Lecture 06

  • Fri 02/17:

    • Due: Problem Set #6 (Topics 6 & 10a) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 7: Sorting Lower Bound and Linear Sorting

  • Mon 02/20: *HOLIDAY

  • Wed 02/22: #10b - Theoretical Limits, and O(n) Sorts:

  • Fri 02/24:

    • Due: Problem Set #7 (Topic 10b) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 8: Midterm 1 and Backtracking

  • Mon 02/27: Midterm 1:

    • Topics 1-11

  • Wed 03/01: #12a - Backtracking (Recursive algorithms review):

    • Reading: Chapter 2 (sections 2.1, 2.3-2.4, 2.6, 2.8) of Jeff Erickson's online textbook (the remaining sections provide additional examples, that you may read if you want to see more examples). If you are shaky on recursive algorithms, review Chapter 1 of Jeff Erickson's online textbook.

    • Lecture Notes: None

    • Screencasts: None

  • Fri 03/03:

    • Due: Problem Set #8 (Topic 12a) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 9: Dynamic Programming and Greedy Algorithms

  • Mon 03/06: #12b - Dynamic Programming:

  • Wed 03/08: #13 - Greedy Algorithms & Huffman Codes:

    • Reading: CLRS Sections 15.1-15.3

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 13

    • Screencasts: 13A, 13B, 13C

    • (Additional Screencasts): MIT Lecture 16: only briefly mentioned at 48:16

  • Fri 03/10:

    • Due: Problem Set #9 (Topics 12b & 13) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 10: Basic Graph Algorithms

  • Mon 03/20: #14a - Graph Representations, Breadth-First Search, Depth-First Search:

    • Reading: CLRS Sections 20.1-20.3; Chapter 5 of Jeff Erickson's lecture notes; Goodrich & Tamassia section on Graph Representations (in Laulima)

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 14A

    • Screencasts: 14A, 14B, 14C, 14D, 14E

    • (Additional Screencasts): MIT Lecture 16 (till minute 23:26, the rest focuses on MST  —  next week's topic).

  • Mon 03/22: #14b - Topological Sort, and Strongly Connected Components:

    • Reading: CLRS Sections 20.4-20.5, CLRS Chapter 23

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 14B

    • Screencasts: 14F

  • Fri 03/24:

    • Due: Problem Set #10 (Topics 14a & 14b) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 11: Union-Find, MST

  • Mon 03/27: HOLIDAY

  • Wed 03/29: #16 & #17 - Disjoint Sets, Union-Find & Minimum Spanning Trees:

    • Reading: CLRS Chapters 19.1, 19.3, and 21. Also see Lemma 19.11, 19.12, 19.13 and Theorem 19.14

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 16 (skip Linked List representation: Forest is much better), Topic 17 Notes

    • Screencasts: 17A, 17B, 17C

    • (Additional Screencasts): MIT Lecture 16 (from minute 23:26).

  • Fri 03/31:

    • Due: Problem Set #11 (Topics 16 & 17) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 12: Finding Shortest Paths in Graphs

  • Mon 04/03: #18 - Single-Source Shortest Paths:

  • Wed 04/05: #19 - All-Pairs Shortest Paths:

  • Fri 04/07: HOLIDAY - No office hours

    • Due: Problem Set #12 (Topics 18 & 19) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 13: Midterm 2

  • Mon 04/10: Additional practice with Dynamic Programming

  • Wed 04/12: Midterm 2:

    • Topics 12-14, 16-19

Week 14: Maximum Flow in Graphs

  • Mon 04/17: #20 - Maximum Flow:

    • Reading: CLRS Sections 24.1-24.3

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 20

    • Screencasts: 20A, 20B, 20C

  • Wed 04/19: #20 - Maximum Flow (continued):

    • Reading: CLRS Sections 24.1-24.3

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 20

    • Screencasts: 20A, 20B, 20C

  • Fri 04/21:

    • Due: Problem Set #13 (Topic 20) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 15: NP-Completeness and Approximation Algorithms

  • Mon 04/24: #24 - Complexity Theory & NP-Completeness:

  • Wed 04/26: #25 - Approximation Algorithms:

    • Reading: CLRS Chapter 35

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 25

    • Screencasts: 25A, 25B

  • Fri 04/28:

    • Due: Problem Set #14 (Topic 24 & 25) at 4pm in POST 317

Week 16: Multithreading

  • Mon 05/01: #22 - Parallel Algorithms:

    • Reading: CLRS Chapter 26

    • Lecture Notes: Topic 22

    • Screencasts: None

  • Wed 05/03: Course Review

Finals Week:

  • Final Exam: Cumulative on all topics (1-14, 16-20, 22, 24, & 25)

    • Section 1 (MW 2:15-3:45pm): Friday 12-2pm

    • Section 2 (MW 4:30-5:45pm): Friday 2:15-4:15pm