They are not heaps, of course, because it makes no sense to talk of a heap of numbers, and yet the numbers 1 through 5 form a perfectly acceptable set - {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. Still less are heaps sets. A heap of sand does not yield a set of sand. The heaps belong off with the mounds, the piles, the stacks, the masses, and the batches; the sets are otherwise—remote, detached, abstract.
David Berlinski, The Advent of the Algorithm
The prerequisite for this class is CS 305. In particular, from the textbook for this class, you are assumed to be familiar with the contents of chapters 1 through 8, 11, sections 12.1 through 12.6, and appendices C and D.
The course is divided into three three-week sections and one six-week section; see the syllabus for details.
The class meets in Howard Hall C1 (third floor) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:00 p.m. to 7:50 p.m. There's no class on Thanksgiving, Thursday, 22 November.
algorithm characterization (How fast is it? Is it correct?),
designing algorithms (What approach best solves a problem?), and
data structures (What best represents the problem and solution?).
All grades are kept with one digit of precision to the right of the decimal point and 0.05 rounded up. No grades are adjusted to a curve; that means, for example, that 89.9 is always a B+, never an A-.
95 ≤ A 90 ≤ A- < 95 86.6 ≤ B+ < 90 83.3 ≤ B < 86.6 80 ≤ B- < 83.3 76.6 ≤ C+ < 80 73.3 ≤ C < 76.6 70 ≤ C- < 73.3 60 ≤ D < 70 F < 60
| 45% | test grades |
| 45% | assignment grades |
| 10% | presentation grade |
The test- and assignment-grade averages are straight, unweighted averages.
Mid-term grades are the straight, unweighted averages of whatever assignment and quiz grades have accumulated by the mid-term grade deadline (Tuesday, 23 October). A presentation grade, assuming it exists by the deadline, provides 10% of the mid-term grade with the other grades providing the rest; otherwise the other grades provide up the full amount.
Mail relevant to the class are stored in a hyper-mail archive. If your message is of general interest to the class, I'll store it, suitably stripped of identification and along with my answer, in the archive.
My attendance policy applies only to lecture attendance; it does not apply to other kinds of attendance which may be required for the course. Repeated failures to meet the attendance expectations set for tests, meetings, projects, labs or other forms of course work will have a bad influence on your grade.
Monmouth University does have a class attendance policy, which you can find in the Academic Information chapter of the Student Handbook. To the extent that I need to keep the record straight, I will take attendance. Attendance lists, however, are entirely for the University's benefit; I will make no use of them in grading.
First, the only complaint that matters is that something got marked wrong when it was actually right. When you come to complain, be prepared to present, in explicit detail, what it is you did and why you think it's right.
Second, complaints about a particular test or assignment are only valid until
the next test or assignment is due; after that point the book is permanently
closed on all previous test or assignment grades.
Late Assignments
Assignments must be turned in by their due date; assignments turned in after
their due date are late. You should contact me as soon as possible if you need
to negotiate a due-date extension. The longer you wait to negotiate, the less
likely it is you'll be successful; in particular, you have almost no chance of
getting an extension if you try for one the day before the due date, and you
have no chance of getting an extention on the due date.
A late assignment is penalized five points a day for each day it's late. I use a 24-hour clock running from midnight to midnight to measure days; note this means that an assignment handed in the day after it's due is penalized ten points: five for the day it was due and five for the next day.
A make-up test must be scheduled to be taken by the date of the test following the missed test (or the final exam if you miss the last test). If a missed test is not made up by the time of the next test, you get a zero for the missed test.
There will be only one make up given per missed test. If more than one person misses the same test, those people will have to coordinate among themselves to pick a mutually agreeable date for the make up.
FreeTechBooks' list of on-line data structures and algorithm books.
Softpanorama's old but wide ranging link page for data structures and algorithms.
Algosort's link page to algorithm pages.
Algorithm search engines (as opposed to search-engine algorithms) in general (seems borken, 30 Aug 07), for Haskell, and in detail.
| This page last modified on 7 November 2007. |
|