Instructor information
Instructor: Iannis Tourlakis
Office: SF 2304D
Phone: 416-946-7977
Email: iannis@cs.toronto.edu
Tutorials
Tutorials begin the first week of classes and are held every Thursday at 11am. For the first week all students will go to the same tutorial room which will be announced in lecture. Tutorial divisions and locations for subsequent weeks will be announced here.
Textbooks
The required textbook for the course is:
- Goodrich and Tamassia
Algorithm Design
Wiley
- Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest and Stein
Introduction to Algorithms, second edition
McGraw-Hill
Course topics
- Abstract data types, design and comparison of data structures [1 week]
- Dictionaries and Balanced search trees [2 weeks]
- Augmenting Data Structures [1 week]
- Hashing [2 weeks]
- Priority queues [2 weeks]
- Disjoint Sets [1 week]
- Graph representations, graph traversals, and minimum spanning trees [2 weeks]
- Amortized analysis and Average case analysis [2 weeks]
Course prerequisites
CSC207/270, CSC236/238, STA247/255/257
If you are missing a prerequisite, please contact the instructor before the end of the first week of class to see if it can be waived!
Important dates
Sep 9: First class
Sep 21: Last day to add
Oct 23: Midterm
Nov 3: Last day to drop
Dec 4: Last class
Dec 8-19: Final examination period
Grading scheme
5 Assignments, each worth 8%
Assignment 1 due October 2
Assignment 2 due October 14
Assignment 3 due November 4
Assignment 4 due November 18
Assignment 5 due December 2
Assignment 2 due October 14
Assignment 3 due November 4
Assignment 4 due November 18
Assignment 5 due December 2
Midterm 20%
October 23 10:10am-noon
Final Exam 40%
Assignments are due at the beginning of class. Problem sets handed in after 10:15am, but before 10:15am on the following day will be penalized 25%. Assignments will not be accepted after 10:15am on the day following the due date. Final marks may be adjusted up or down to conform with University of Toronto grading policies. Students must receive a minimum of 40% on the final exam to pass the course.
Questions concerning the grading of assignments and the midterm exam must be submitted in writing to the instructor or your tutor within two weeks of the date when the item was returned to the class. The question should be written on a separate piece of paper stapled to the front of the assignment or midterm exam.
Special consideration
If you are unable to complete homework or if you miss the midterm test due to major illness or other circumstances completely outside of your control, contact the instructor immediately. Extensions will be considered on an individual basis and will not be given automatically. In case of illness, medical documentation must be supplied on the standard University of Toronto Student Medical Certificate, which you can obtain from your college registrar. (A simple note from your doctor is not acceptable.)
Missed Midterm Test
If you miss the midterm test and receive special consideration from the instructor, a mark will be computed to replace the missing mark based on your mark on the final examination. No make-up test will be given.
Missed Lectures
If you miss a lecture, you should get lecture notes from a classmate and read them and any appropriate material from the course text. If you are still confused or have question after doing this, come to office hours.
Policy concerning collaboration
Students often learn a lot from working with one another. You are encouraged to meet with other students from class for this purpose. For example, you might work through exercises in the course text together or discuss any material you found confusing in lecture or in the text.
It is also legitimate to discuss assignment problems with other students in the class or to consult other texts. However, you must destroy any notes concerning assignment problems made during this time and you must not write down anything for at least two hours afterwards. Assignments must be written up completely by yourself using only the text and your own notes as aids. The point is that your written report should be your own work. Do not let other students even look at your completed assignment solutions, since this can lead to copying. These rules are meant to ensure that all students understand their solutions to the problems well enough to write up solutions by themselves. Failure to comply with these guidelines is a serious academic offense.
On the first page of each homework assignment, you must explicitly list all people, except the professor and course tutor, with whom you have discussed assignment problems (even briefly) and which problems you discussed with each. If you have discussed the homework with no one except the professor or course tutor, write "NO OUTSIDE DISCUSSION". You must also list all other material that you have consulted. If you have consulted no material except the course textbook and your course notes, write "NO EXTRA MATERIAL CONSULTED". Note that finding (or copying) the solution to a homework problem on the web does not demonstrate your understanding of course material and, hence, will receive no credit.
Getting help
Office hours: Tuesdays 2-4pm. Also by appointment.
Bulletin board: Students can post questions and answers on the course bulletin board at https://csc.cdf.toronto.edu/bb/YaBB.pl?board=CSC263H1F. The instructor and TAs will monitor the board and respond to questions regularly.
Email: If you are having trouble with course material or if you need extra help do not hesitate to email the instructor. I'll try to reply as soon as possible and certainly within a day; however, keep in mind that I don't always read email over weekends, so a reply may take longer for mails sent then.
Also, please follow the following guidelines for email correspondence:
- In general, detailed help is best obtained in person (i.e., at tutorials and office hours); email is best for simple, clarification-type questions.
- Please look at the bulletin board to see if your question has already been answered before emailing your instructor.
- If your question may be of interest to other students (e.g., questions about an assignment), please post it on the bulletin board instead of emailing. If your question is personal (e.g., about missing a test due to illness), please email your instructor.
- Include the course number in the subject line. Also, try to use a good topic (e.g., "CSC263: A1 question about red-black trees").
- Sign your full name.