Course syllabus

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Welcome to COMPSCI 220 Algorithms and Data Structures.

Prerequisites: COMPSCI 120 and 15 points from COMPSCI 105, 107, 130

Course Description: This course is an introduction to the analysis of algorithms and data structures. Topics covered include: common abstract data types and their implementations; asymptotic complexity analysis; sorting and searching algorithms; depth‐first and breadth‐first search for graphs and applications; and graph optimization problems.

 

Tutorials under Level-1  (all times are given in New Zealand Standard Time):

Online tutorials with Yan. Mondays 3-4pm, Wednesdays 4-5pm, Zoom ID: 305 360 7611

Online tutorials with Michael. Thursdays 1-2pm, Fridays 4-5pm,  Zoom ID: 775 395 2231

On-campus tutorials with Yan. Monday 4-5pm @ 303-B07, Wednesday 5-6pm @ 303-B11

On-campus tutorials with Michael. Thursday 12-1pm @  303-B09, Friday 9-10am @ 303-B11

Please note that there is also a tutorial video (link: Tutorials) available for each week that we encourage you to watch before attending an online tutorial. You can attend any tutorial you like for as long or as little as you like.

 

Course contact hours/timetable

Lectures: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays 11am - 12pm, Sci Maths & Physics, Room G20.

Lecture recordings will be posted about 6 hours after each lecture

Tutorials start from Week 2. Please check SSO for time and room of the stream you've chosen.

 

Contacts

The course is coordinated by Simone Linz. Please email Simone (s.linz@auckland.ac.nz) with all administrative questions about the course. For all questions about the course content, please email the lecturer in charge as follows:

Thursday,  October 29, 11-12, room 303-415

Monday, November 2, 11-1

Wednesday, November 4, 11-1 Zoom office hours 

Join Zoom Meeting https://auckland.zoom.us/j/3554909156  (Links to an external site.)

Meeting ID: 355 490 9156

 

  • Dr Simone Linz (lecturer Weeks 9-12), room 303S-481, s.linz@auckland.ac.nz, office hour: I am happy for you to knock on my office door pretty much anytime (but please don't be offended if I explain that I'm not available at that moment). If you would like to set up a definite appointment (in person or via Zoom), then feel free to email me and we'll make an appointment.
  • Michael Chen (tutor), xche182@aucklanduni.ac.nz
  • Yan Kolezhitskiy (tutor), ykol002@aucklanduni.ac.nz

 

Class Reps

Class reps can act as an intermediary between students in the class and the lecturers and tutors. You can share with them any suggestions/complaints/remarks about the lectures. The class reps are not a part of the teaching team.

 

Assessment

  • 30% four assignments (7.5% each)
  • 15% test, the test will cover the first six weeks of the course, closed book, no calculators
  • 55% final exam, the exam will cover all twelve weeks of the course, closed book, no calculators

 

Assignments

There are four assignments in this course. Each is worth 7.5% of your final grade. Assignments will be posted on Canvas at least 10 days before the due date.

Assignment 1 is due August 14, 9pm.   (extended to August 15, 9pm)

Assignment 2 is due September 4, 9pm.   (extended to September 8, 9pm)

Assignment 3 is due October 9, 9pm.  (extended to October 11, 9pm)

Assignment 4 is due October 28, 9pm.  Note that the due date of this assignment is a Wednesday!

Late assignments will not be marked.

 

Piazza

We have set up Piazza for this course. The main purpose of Piazza is for you to interact with other students in the course. While lecturers and tutors will monitor Piazza and help if necessary, we believe that the best way for Piazza to work in this class is if you are all collectively responding to each other's problems! 

As lecturers, students often ask us for extra practice problems, or for the best way to revise material: We claim that Piazza is this!  Try to ask 1-3 questions a week and try to comment on 1-3 posts a week, and see how your skills will improve.

To encourage student responses, we as lecturers will follow a "4 hour" rule: during the first four hours of any post about the material in COMPSCI 220, we will not respond.  Note that this does not mean that we will respond immediately after four hours!  Depending on when your question goes up, we may be in meetings, teaching another course, or it may be after work.  In general, we'll get responses up as soon as we are able to do so during workdays.  If you haven't seen a response in two working days, please repost or email us.

Official course announcement will be made on Canvas and not necessarily also on Piazza. You are therefore required to check Canvas and your university email account (login@aucklanduni.ac.nz) regularly.

 

Pre-recorded videos

Pre-recorded short videos that cover most topics in the course are available on Mark Wilson's Youtube Channel for the first half of the course  and on David Welch's channel for the second half of the course. These lectures are intended to supplement the in-person lectures. Students will benefit from watching them before coming to the in-person lectures.

 

Coursebook

A coursebook has been prepared for this class. Hard-copies will be available from the Science Student Resource Centre at a cost of $10.  It is strongly recommended that you buy this book and bring it to class.

The latest version has updates on pages 122-123 and 148.

Textbooks

 Introduction to Algorithms and Data Structures.Links to an external site. M. J. Dinneen, G. Gimel'farb and M. C. Wilson. The course follows this free electronic textbook closely.

 

Information regarding university policies and technical support:

Academic IntegrityLinks to an external site.

Aegrotats and compassionate passesLinks to an external site.

Links to an external site.Canvas helpLinks to an external site.

 

 

 

Course summary:

Date Details Due