Schedule

Weekly Schedule

Additional Details

High-Level Overview

• Module One:
  • Topic: Algorithm Analysis Foundations
  • Weeks: One through six
  • Chapters: One through five in A First Course on Data Structures in Python
• Module Two:
  • Topic: Algorithmic Building Blocks
  • Weeks: Seven through eleven
  • Chapters: Six through fourteen in A First Course on Data Structures in Python
• Module Three:
  • Topic: Advanced Data Structures
  • Weeks: Twelve through sixteen
  • Chapters: Fifteen through twenty-one in A First Course on Data Structures in Python

Schedule Details

Week-by-Week

• Start Semester: Week One
• Spring Break: Week Eight
• Midterm Exam: Week Nine
• Final Exam: Week Sixteen

Important Dates

• Midterm Executable Examination
  • Date: March 14, 2024
  • Time: 2:30 – 4:30 PM
  • Location: Alden 109
• Final Executable Examination
  • Examination Code: A
  • Date: May 2, 2024
  • Time: 9:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
  • Location: Alden 109

Weekly Cadence

• Monday and Wednesday: Algorithm Analysis Exposition
  • Introduction to scientific, technical, and engineering topics:
    • Data structures and algorithms
    • Performance evaluation techniques
    • Software engineering best practices
    • Prepare for an algorithm engineering project
• Thursday: Algorithm Engineering Project
  • Week One: Design, implement, test, document, and maintain
    • Data structure(s) and algorithm(s)
    • Benchmark evaluation framework
    • Data analysis and visualization tools
  • Week Two: Design and conduct an experiment
    • Demonstrate implementation of completed system
    • Document the experimental design
    • Pose research question(s)
    • Define evaluation metrics
    • Conduct the experiment
    • Analyze and interpret the results
    • Draw conclusions and make recommendations
• Friday: Algorithm All-Hands Session
  • Cadence: Two weeks devoted to task one and then two weeks for task two
  • Task One: Leveraging prior work, suggest a research question
    • Goal: Scientific study in algorithmology
    • Current Week: Come to class with a proposed research question
      • Design and conduct an experiment
      • Analyze and interpret the results
      • Create a web-based slide deck to present the results
    • Following Week:
      • Present the slides published to the course web site
      • Explain answer(s) to the research question
  • Task Two: Leveraging prior work, release useful function(s)
    • Goal: Engineering effort in algorithmology
    • Current Week: Come to class with a proposed function for implementation
      • Identify useful function(s) for refinement
      • Explain steps for improving the function(s)
      • Create a pull request and follow it through review
    • Following Week:
      • Give an overview of the completed function(s)
      • Give a demonstration of a command-line tool using the function(s)