Objectives | Where & When | Day by day Schedule | Syllabus
Textbook & Software | Why Java? | Grading | Policies | No Laptop Mondays
Staff & Contact Information | Skills
What This Course Is About
No doubt in your education you were instructed in the "industrial
revolution". By all accounts, this long-lasting event, from the late 18th
centry into the 19th century, transformed all of human society. One does
not exaggerate when saying that every aspect of daily life was influenced
in some way.
We are now in the midst of a similar revolution, which will only be placed in historical context by future generations. Where the Industrial Revolution changed the way goods are manufactured and distributed, the Information Technology revolution has created a digital ecosystem that pervades modern life. None of this would be possible without efficient software systems that control all aspects of the hardware devices that are connected to the Internet. And these systems would be infeasible to build without the numerous discoveries in algorithms.
Without a power source, the most powerful computer becomes nothing more than a fancy paperweight.
Without efficient algorithms, the software infrastructure would not function.
CS 2223 aims to instruct students in the fundamental data structures used throughout computer science. You will learn about the most important algorithms and be taught a number of specific techniques to help you design new algorithms. Students will learn mathematical tools to analyze and predict the execution performance of algorithms.
Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:
It is possible to work hard and get an A in this course, but make sure you leave room for this challenge if you set this as your goal.
| Day/Time | 10:00 | 11:00 | 12:00 | 1:00 | 2:00 | 3:00 | 4:00 | 5:00 | 6:00 | 7:00 | Evening |
| Sunday | GTH - Online 8:30 to 9:30 PM | ||||||||||
| Monday | GTH | HH | HH | SL | SL | ||||||
| Tuesday | CS | GTH - Online 8:30 - 9:30 PM | |||||||||
| Wednesday | SL | EG | EG | ||||||||
| Thursday | GTH | CS | CS | HH | EG | GTH - Online 8:30 - 9:30 PM | |||||
| Friday |
Initials above are: George Heineman (GTH), Cansu Sen (CS), Hung Hong (HH), Shengmei Liu (SL), Evan Gilgenbach (EG)
George Heineman is available for additional online office hours on a semi-regular basis in the designated evenings from 8:30PM to 9:30PM using Zoom Video Conferencing. Once the course is up and running, this will be actively promoted in class. There will be links for joining a meeting (https://wpi.zoom.us/j/2185763036) on the actual evening meeting slots.
If you have a question regarding your grades in the course, send email to cs2223h-staff *at* cs.wpi.edu. Mail sent to this address goes to the instructor and to the TAs/SAs.
The instructor's email address is heineman *at* cs.wpi.edu. Please
restrict your use of my personal email address to issues of a confidential
nature. You will get a quicker response if you post your questions to
piazza.
Research shows
that we
are not effective multi-taskers. And in this course, I believe you need
to focus your entire attention during the lecture. And I believe with
practice, you can learn the essential skill of focusing on a single problem
for a fixed length of time.
I kindly ask every student in the class to refrain from using a smartphone
during class.
In addition, I am going to insist on a "No Laptop Mondays" policy where I
will ask each student to put away their laptop for the duration of the
class. That is right, nothing but pencil and paper. We will benefit by
having more focused discussions and work during lecture.
Lectures MTRF from 10:00 - 10:50pm (Upper FLAUD).
No Laptop Mondays
We are inundated with information because we have a steady connection to
the digital world with our smart phones and laptops.Lecture and Lab Times
I have posted a full day-by-day lecture schedule;
some of these lectures are still in progress.
| Textbook: The textbook for the course is "Algorithms", Robert Sedgewick & Kevin Wayne, 4th edition [Amazon link]. There are online resources for the text book available here and you can find extensive data and sources at the book's Code web site. |
Software: We will use Java which is installed on all lab computers on campus. We will use the Eclipse development environment which is also freely available and installed on all lab computers. Please install the Neon installation, as appropriate for your platform. You only need "Eclipse for Java Developers".
Fusion.wpi.edu: All source code that I make available can be found here. You are responsible for checking it out into your local Eclipse Workspace. Use the following as the Git identifier: https://fusion.wpi.edu/anonscm/git/cs2223/cs2223.git
Grading
The grading policy for each project will be posted at the time of the
assignment. In general, each assignment will have a basic objective for
the majority of the assignment points and an extended objective for
demonstrating additional work and understanding.
Final grades will reflect the extent to which you have demonstrated understanding of the material, and completed the assigned projects. The base level grade will be a B which indicates that the basic objectives on assignments and exams have been met. A grade of A will indicate significant achievement beyond the basic objectives and a grade of C will indicate not all basic objectives were met, but work was satisfactory for credit. No incomplete grades will be assigned unless there exist exceptional, extenuating circumstances.
You must have a passing average on the exams in order to pass the course. (A passing average on the exams is usually around 60%. We may lower this threshold if the exam averages are low; the threshold will not be raised).
Exams are closed-book, closed-notes. You may bring in one sheet of notes (one paper, 8.5" x 11.5", both sides) to each exam. You may not use any computers, calculators, cellphones, headphones, or other electronic devices during the exams.
There are no makeups for exams. Absence from an exam will be excused only for medical or emergency reasons. A note from your doctor or from the Office of Academic Advising will be required. In such cases, your final grade will be recorded as Incomplete and you will be allowed to take a makeup exam once the course is over.
If you miss the deadline, you will still be able to receive credit if you submit your assignment by 6:00 PM, although there will be a 25% late penalty assessed. Homeworks received after 6:00 PM receive a grade of zero.
Homework solutions are made available at 6PM, after the deadline.
Academic Honesty Policy
Please read WPI's Academic
Honesty Policy.
As examples, each of the following scenarios would constitute cheating (this list is not exhaustive!):
In contrast, the following scenarios would not constitute cheating:
Cheating will not be tolerated. I have pursued these cases in the past and will do so again. We have these rules in place to ensure you give yourselves the best education possible.
If you are unsure whether a given activity would constitute cheating, ask the instructor. Violations of the Academic Honesty Policy can result in an NR for the course, and violators will be subject to the procedures outlined in section 5 of the WPI Judicial Policy.
For each homework assignment, there will be a posted rubric describing how points are assigned. Use your time wisely to accumulate as many "partial credit" points as you can by the time the homework is due.
We will use Canvas to submit assignments. Each homework will have a specific time of day by which the assignment must be submitted. Being one-minute late is the same thing as being four hours late, so make sure you submit your assignments in timely fashion. To submit, you will upload a ZIP file that contains your homework solutions (with source code) and written answers. The homework assignments provide more detail on how to go about uploading your solution.
Do not send email to the instructor or to the TAs requesting special exemption from the late policy. The late policy is applicable for all possible reasons for late submissions. To receive the most partial credit, be sure you submit on time. It is far better to submit "what you have" by the deadline than to risk getting zero points because you failed to submit by 2PM or 6PM.
Last Updated: $Date: Fri Mar 16 09:51:15 2018$