Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:00pm–2:15pm
Instructor: Emily Fox <emily.fox@utdallas.edu>
Instructor: Emily Fox
Office: ECSS 4.224
Phone: (972) 883-4168
Email: emily.fox@utdallas.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 3:00pm–4:00pm and Thursday 10:00am–11:00am via MS Teams (additional and in-person office hours available upon request)
Homepage: https://personal.utdallas.edu/~emily.fox/
TA: Alakh Aggarwal
Office: ECSS 3.618
Email: Alakh.Aggarwal@UTDallas.edu
Office Hours: Wednesday 11:00am–2:00pm via MS Teams
CS 6363 is a course in the design and analysis of computer algorithms.
As written in the official Student Learning Objectives, by the end of the semester, students should have:
The official course syllabus can be found here. All policies from both the syllabus and website apply, but if there is a contradiction, then the syllabus takes priority (but do email Emily so she can fix the issue!).
Announcements and updates to the schedule including recommended reading will take place on this webpage. Emily will also make announcements on eLearning.
We're expecting to do live in-person lectures this semester. However, Emily will also offer a higher quality recording of each lecture through the Recorded Lectures channel on MS Teams. You do not need to ask permission or offer an explanation if you cannot attend one or more lectures. We will also use MS Teams for office hours. See the Office Hours channel for the scheduled meetings. Finally, everybody is encouraged to chat about lecture topics and homework, including asking questions with each other or Emily, in appropriate channels on Teams. That said, see below on the policies regarding collaboration for homework.
Additional details on the course and its policies are given below. You are expected to read them carefully to avoid confusion later. In addition, we expect you to read our page on writing policies and advice so we can grade you fairly for your work.
This section of the course is recommended for students planning to take the Algorithms QE. While I won't assume prior knowledge beyond the prerequesites common to all sections of CS 6363, I do want you to gain skills in designing and analyzing algorithms beyond a baseline understanding of the process. You'll likely find things a touch more difficult relative to other CS 6363 sections, especially with the homework, but the extra difficulty will hopefully lead to a better understanding and be worth it even for those with no intention of obtaining a Ph.D.
Welcome! We hope you find this course both interesting and useful.
Most of the lectures will be based on the excellent lecture-notes-turned-textbook of Jeff Erickson simply titled Algorithms. You may also be interested in the paper textbook required for many other sections Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, Clifford Stein: Introduction to Algorithms, 3rd Edition. MIT Press 2009, often referred to as CLRS. I will also pull examples and proofs out of CLRS, but I will not follow it too closely. That said, the more you read outside of lecture, the more examples and details you will see, and hopefully your reading will lead to a deeper understanding of the class material. Assignments will always be written out instead of simply referring to problem numbers from either textbook.
Your grade will be determined by a combination homework assignments, two midterm exams, and a cumulative final exam. Your grade will be determined by a weighted sum of these items as shown below.
Final grades for each student are determined either by their scores passing predetermined percentage thresholds or their performance relative to the class average, whichever results in a higher grade. Therefore, if everybody performs well, then everybody can get top grades. Students are highly encouraged to talk to Emily to get a better idea of where they stand before they consider dropping the course.
We will release four or five written homework assignments, and each will be weighted equally. Students must request extensions for assignments they need to turn in late. Extensions of up to 24 hours will be automatically approved. Longer extensions may be approved at Emily's discretion based on the circumstances involved. We understand everybody has their own struggles that may not be immediately obvious to those around them, so please don't be afraid to ask.
Homework assignments can be done individually or in groups of up to two students and turned in via eLearning. Since eLearning is not well-equipped to handle group submissions, a single member of each group should turn in their assignment, and we'll make sure everybody in the group gets the same score for the submission.
For homework assignments, clearly write your name(s), the homework number, and the problem number at the top of every page. For example, you might write "Robert Tarjan and Danny Sleator, HW0 #2". In addition, start each numbered homework problem on a new page so we don't miss any problems while grading.
We hope you will put in an honest effort to solve each assignment without having to rely on resources outside of the course material. However, we also want to give you the opportunity to discuss class material with other students and access other kinds of outside help as needed. If you use material from an outside source, such as a web page, a journal paper, a different textbook, or a relative, or if choose to work with other students from the class, then you must rewrite the solution in your own words, and you must properly cite your source. A proper citation to an article or website should point us to the precise article or webpage you used. Do not forgot to rewrite in your own words; the goal here is not to show us what you found using outside material, but to convince us that you actually understand it yourself. You may assume knowledge of the official course material or prerequisites without citation, but nothing else. Failure to cite other sources or failure to provide solutions in your own words, even if quoting a source, is considered an act of academic dishonesty, and we will report suspected violations to the Office of Community Standards and Conduct.
A correct assignment based on a cited source and written in your words is still worth full credit. When in doubt, cite your source!
There may be websites out there that offer solutions to some of the assignments. Be very careful with these sites. The solutions are sometimes incorrect, and in cases where they are correct, they don't offer a full or understandable justification for what they are doing. If you find yourself frequently relying on outside sources, then you may be missing out on the "overcoming trials" part of learning, and your ability to use it outside of the class will suffer.
Requests for regrades should be done within one week of an assignment being returned. Please be considerate of whether your request is legitimate. All regrade requests must include an explanation of why you feel you were graded incorrectly. Regrade means regrade, so your score may decrease.
There may be occasional opportunities to gain extra credit by doing relevant work. However, these opportunities (if any) will be rare, and you should not depend upon them to get the grade you desire. The final grade cutoffs will be determined before taking extra credit into account, so these opportunities will only help and never hinder students. The citation policy does not apply here. Each student must do extra credit work on their own.
Exams this semester will (likely) be administered in the classroom with midterms occurring during normal class hours. If you know about a conflict with the scheduled exam dates, please inform Emily at least one week in advance so we can set a conflict exam time. Makeup exams for unexpected conflicts will be scheduled if you have a documented medical excuse. If you have or feel you may have a disability that requires a reasonable accommodation in how I structure or administer an exam, please consult with and get written documentation from the Office of Student AccessAbility (OSA) at least one week in advance of the exam.
Exams are closed book, and no other sources, collaboration, or cheat sheets are allowed.
Mastery of the material is more important than mere memorization and regurgitation of facts presented in lecture. When studying for exams, put extra emphasis and practice time into learning how to design and analyze algorithms (the name of the course!). These skills are absolutely necessary if you're planning to take the QE.
Many of the course policies and much of the writing advice was originally taken from algorithms course websites of Jeff Erickson and Erin Wolf Chambers. This site itself was generated using Publish by John Sundell. Please send Emiy an email if you notice any bugs with the site.