You can purchase the textbook from the WPI Bookstore using the BUY DIGITAL format ($72.00).
Objectives | Where & When | Day by day Schedule | Syllabus
Textbook & Software | Why Java? | Grading | Policies
Canvas | Staff & Contact Information | Skills
I ask that all students use Discord to post general questions about a lecture or a homework assignment. Instructions on joining the discord server for this class can be found in a Canvas announcement.
I will hold six office hours throughout the week, and that is when you can ask me specific questions regarding your homework or questions you have about lecture. If you send me email about a class question, I will just repost it to discord and answer it there.
If you send me email about a personal concern, I will respond within 24 hours.
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:
Yes! Get a notebook and take notes! Lectures are recorded, so you can review material by watching last lectures.
In 2018, the average workload was 11.01 hours per week outside of lectures.
In 2019, the average workload was 12.01 hours per week outside of lectures.
In 2020, the average workload was 10.35 hours per week outside of lectures (affected by Q-term).
In 2021, the average workload was 11.62 hours per week outside of lectures.
In 2022, the average workload was 12.02 hours per week outside of lectures.
The best way to prepare for the homeworks and for the exams is through the lectures and the supporting videos that I provide! That is roughly four hours for the week. The remaining 12 hours should be spread evenly, about two hours each day. Some students will spend less while some, no doubt, will spend more. The best way to complete this course is to complete these tasks:
There are 18 hours of office hours per week. This is a substantial investment on our part and you should take advantage of these resources. Many of these will be held using Zoom software; others will be in person. Please try to spread the usage out so no individual office hour is overwhelmed.
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 | 6:30 | 7:30 | |
| Sunday | GTH | ||||||||||
| Monday | GTH FL 141 |
VB | VB | ||||||||
| Tuesday | KZ UH 341 |
KZ UH 341 |
YW | YW | LG | LG | GTH | ||||
| Wednesday | KZ UH 341 |
KZ UH 341 |
YW | YW | |||||||
| Thursday | GTH FL 141 |
LG | LG | VB | VB | GTH | |||||
| Friday | GTH FL 141 |
George Heineman is available for additional online office hours on a semi-regular basis in the designated evenings from 7:30PM to 8:30PM 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 posted within Canvas.
If you have a question regarding your grades in the course, use Canvas to send email to Teaching Assistants. Mail sent to this address goes to all TAs/SAs.
The instructor's email address is heineman *at* 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 discord. Indeed, I will likely repost your question and reply to you that the answer is on discord.
Research shows that we are not effective multi-taskers. And in this course, I believe you need to focus your entire attention when watching the lectures. And I believe with practice, you can learn the essential skill of focusing on a single problem for a fixed length of time.
Please don't think you are going to be able to learn the material from the videos while doing other activities. Set aside time on a regular basis, at the same time of day even, to watch the videos. Take notes on what you think is important. Write down questions that you have as you watch the videos; go back and rewatch some sections that were confusing to you.
Lecture Times
I have posted a
full day-by-day
lecture schedule; the web-based lecture material will be rolled out
roughly a week before they are covered in lecture. Note that I will likely be
making final tweaks to the lectures right up until the day before.
Lectures MTRF from 10:00 - 10:50pm (online in Canvas, as live-streamed by Echo 360).
The lectures will be recorded and posted to Echo360 in Canvas. There will be secondary videos posted as well, and there will be folders for each day.
|
Textbook: The textbook for the course is "Algorithms", Robert Sedgewick & Kevin Wayne, 4th edition
[WPI Bookstore Link (section D01)] [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. You can purchase the textbook from the WPI Bookstore using the BUY DIGITAL format ($72.00). |
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 one of the latest Ecliipse platform (either IDE 2020-06 or Eclipse-Photon installation), as appropriate for your platform. You only need "Eclipse for Java Developers".
Gitlab.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://gitlab03.wpi.edu/heineman/cs2223 Note that to access these resources from OFF CAMPUS, you need to use Global Protect
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.
Homeworks are due at 6:00 PM on their respective due dates. Homeworks received after 6:00 PM receive a 25% penalty. Homeworks received more than two days late will receive a zero.
Homework solutions are made available at 6PM, two days after the deadline.
Academic Honesty Policy
Please read WPI's Academic
Honesty Policy. If you are struggling in this class, or just not
meeting your own high expectations, simply email me and we can set up an
impromptu zoom meeting so I can help you overcome these challenges. If you
do not come to me for help, then I cannot help you.
There is to be no collaboration on homeworks (and exams, obviously). While
I encourage studenst to talk to each other about the homework
assignment, such as discussing overall strategies for solving problems, you
must understand that there is a point where such collaboration becomes a
violation of WPI's academic honesty policy.
As examples, each of the following scenarios would constitute cheating (this list is not exhaustive!):
I still had a good amount left to do and asked my friend to see his version of the homework, and because it was after the due date he obliged. When I realized the majority of my code wasn't working how I thought it and I had almost nothing to submit I made the extremely shortsighted and dishonest decision to try and edit his code to pass off as my own. I was extremely overwhelmed and not thinking clearly of the obvious consequences to come out of this for both myself and my friend. He had no idea that I had done this until he received your email today. He called me and informed me of the situation and I am writing to you to take full responsibility and help make the process of getting this resolved as easy as possible.
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.
For example, on the very first assignment last year, six students had shared solutions to an assignment, and one of them had no idea that a third student had shared their solution with someone else without telling them.
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 Student Guide to Academic Integrity at WPI. Here are some hints from your fellow students (open image in a new tab so you can zoom in):
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 try to get every last point because you failed to submit by 6PM.
Last Updated: $Date: Tue Mar 14 15:55:24 2023$
