CSCI E-124: Algorithms and Data Structures

Computer Science E-124 is a course on the design and analysis of efficient algorithms, using data structures for efficient implementations of abstract operations.

Internet Access to Lectures Only

The lectures for this course are only available on the Internet using streaming video. The recorded lectures which you will view are from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) course Computer Science 124. Two lectures per week will be made available throughout the term and while the lectures are recorded, the other aspects of the course are "live." This means that you are responsible for homework, exams and other work. There will be an optional weekly section meeting for students that wish to attend it on campus. The section will be videotaped -- details below.

Lectures should now be available here.

Syllabus
Course Staff
Handouts
Problem Sets

Announcements (and archived announcements)
Section Time
Frequently Asked Questions(includes emails sent out to the entire class)
Grading Statistics

Announcements

(4/15) Office hours this week will be moved to Friday, 4/17, from 4:30 to 6 pm. Notes from Monday's section on random walks are posted (LaTeX, PDF). Problem Set 4 is due this Saturday. In case you were considering withdrawing from the course, keep in mind that the withdrawal deadline is Sunday, April 26.
(3/30) As announced by e-mail, both pa2 and ps4 will be due on Saturdays rather than Fridays (see below for actual due dates); Prof. Mitzenmacher has updated the assignment handouts to reflect this.
(3/19) The FAQ has been updated again with questions about PS3. Please look it over before tonight's office hours!
(3/19) IMPORTANT: Due to technical maintenance on the Harvard servers, the midterm has been rescheduled from noon Sunday to midnight Monday (36 hours in total). Office hours tonight will focus on problem set 3, due at 11:59 pm Friday to cscis124+ps3@gmail.com ; we'll hold an additional office hours on Saturday for midterm discussion only.
(3/11) Come chat with us on Google Talk, no login required:
(3/11) Because the programming assignment is due tomorrow night, we're going to move tomorrow's office hours to tonight, via e-mail. Send in your questions to cscis124@gmail.com before 9:30 pm; we'll also be available via Google Talk (user cscis124) between 7:30 and 9:30 pm.
(3/03) The FAQ has been updated with questions about the first programming assignment.
(3/03) Yesterday's section was canceled, along with all other Extension School classes, due to the weather. We will be making up that section on Wednesday, March 4, at 8:30 pm, in 1 Story St., Room 304. The section will not be streamed live, but it will be taped and uploaded shortly.
(2/24) Hilary's proof of correctness for the general shortest-path algorithm from last night is now posted here.
(2/23) Section tonight, as usual; e-mail the staff and let us know what you'd like to see covered! Also, the FAQ has been updated with questions we've gotten on PS2 and general questions about the class.
(2/18) Our new late policy, effective immediately, has been e-mailed out; a copy has been posted here.
(2/16) We are requiring that problem set 2, and all future assignments, be typed. The best way to typeset mathematics is LaTeX; you may download it from many, many places online, including here, or use one of many IDEs, such as TeXnicCenter. Hilary has posted a template for problem sets here (and here's the PDF output), and if you need specific help, Google is very much your friend.
Old announcements (from 2/15 or earlier) have been archived.

Handouts

Course syllabus

Quiz #1, (.ps, .pdf)

Notes from Brian's math review, 2/5: LaTeX, PDF

Hilary's LaTeX template: LaTeX, PDF

Hilary's proof of the General Single-Source Shortest Path algorithm, 2/23: LaTeX, PDF

Random walk examples from section, 4/13: LaTeX, PDF

Expected-value example from section, 4/27: PDF

Introduction -- Coin Flipping, 1/30: PS PDF

Other Coin Flipping Notes: PDF

Notes 1, 2/3: PS PDF -- Introduction to Algorithms

Notes 2, 2/5: PS PDF -- Big O Notation, Recurrences

Notes 3, 2/12: PS PDF -- Graphs and Modeling, DFS

Notes 4, 2/19: PS PDF -- Breadth-first Search, Shortest Paths

Notes 5, 2/21 PS PDF -- Minimum Spanning Trees

Notes 6, 2/26: PS PDF -- Disjoint set data structure

Notes 7, 3/2: PS PDF -- Greedy Algorithms

Notes 8, 3/4: PS PDF -- Divide and Conquer

Notes 9, 3/10: PS PDF -- Dynamic Programming

Notes 10, 3/11: PS PDF -- Hashing

Notes 11, 3/13: PS PDF -- Hashing, continued

Notes 12, 3/18: PS PDF -- Document similarity

Notes 13, 4/1: PS PDF -- Primality testing

Notes 14, 4/3: PS PDF -- Cryptography

Notes 15, 4/8: PS PDF -- 2-SAT

Notes 16, 4/9: PS PDF -- Linear Programming

Notes 17, 4/14: PS PDF -- Network Flow

Notes 18, 4/15: PS PDF -- NP-Completeness

Notes 19, 4/26: PS PDF -- Coping with NP-Completeness

For more on heuristic algorithms, you might want to check out some papers by the professor; a sampling is available at this web page. The first two papers are most recommended.

Notes 20, 4/27: PS PDF -- Approximation Heuristics

Notes 21, 4/29: PS PDF -- Reduction from LMA to RCQ

Notes 22, 4/29: PS PDF -- Suffix trees and pattern matching

Course Staff

	Email	Office Hours	Location
Instructor
Michael Mitzenmacher	michaelm at eecs period harvard period edu	Contact TFs first	Arranged
Teaching Fellows
Hilary Finucane Brian Young	cscis124@gmail.com	In-person: Mondays, 7:30 pm Online: Thursdays, 8:30 pm	1 Story St., 3rd floor Via Elluminate -- e-mail TFs for details

(The TF who leads section each week will hold the in-person office hours afterward.)

Section Time

Sections will meet Mondays at 1 Story St., Room 306, 6:30-7:30 pm, beginning Feb. 9, with alternating section leaders.

Video of sections will be streamed live via Harvard Extension School's Live Classroom and also available on the lecture video page linked above.
Please check announcements for the schedule / topics.

Problem Sets

Because we are accepting completed assignments by e-mail only, all assignments must be typed. We will accept MSWord, PDF, PostScript, and plaintext files.

Email your assignments to the e-mail address specific to that assignment, listed below, on the due date (by 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time unless otherwise indicated). Please include your full name and the assignment number in the subject line. For example: John Doe, Assignment 1.

Every file you submit should have a filename beginning with your last name.

Problem Set 1 ps pdf Out: February 3 Due: noon, February 14

Problem Set 2 ps pdf Out: February 12 Due: 11:59 pm February 28 Submit to: cscis124+ps2@gmail.com

Programming Assignment 1 ps pdf Out: February 26 Due: 11:59 pm March 12 Submit to: cscis124+pa1@gmail.com

Problem Set 3 ps pdf Out: March 10 Due: 11:59 pm March 20
Note: the text for the Buffy problem is available here. Submit to: cscis124+ps3@gmail.com

Programming Assignment 2 ps pdf Out: March 20 Due: 11:59 pm April 11 Submit to: cscis124+pa2@gmail.com

Problem Set 4 ps pdf Out: April 1 Due: 11:59 pm April 18 Submit to: cscis124+ps4@gmail.com

Problem Set 5 ps pdf Out: April 16 Due: 11:59 pm Saturday, May 2 Submit to: cscis124+ps5@gmail.com

Programming Assignment 3 ps pdf Out: April 16 Due: 11:59 pm Saturday, May 9 Submit to: cscis124+pa3@gmail.com

Frequently Asked Questions

See the FAQ page. If your question isn't answered, please email the TFs. (Updated 3/19/09)

Problem Set 1	ps	pdf	Out: February 3	Due: noon, February 14
Problem Set 2	ps	pdf	Out: February 12	Due: 11:59 pm February 28	Submit to: cscis124+ps2@gmail.com
Programming Assignment 1	ps	pdf	Out: February 26	Due: 11:59 pm March 12	Submit to: cscis124+pa1@gmail.com
Problem Set 3	ps	pdf	Out: March 10	Due: 11:59 pm March 20 Note: the text for the Buffy problem is available here.	Submit to: cscis124+ps3@gmail.com
Programming Assignment 2	ps	pdf	Out: March 20	Due: 11:59 pm April 11	Submit to: cscis124+pa2@gmail.com
Problem Set 4	ps	pdf	Out: April 1	Due: 11:59 pm April 18	Submit to: cscis124+ps4@gmail.com
Problem Set 5	ps	pdf	Out: April 16	Due: 11:59 pm Saturday, May 2	Submit to: cscis124+ps5@gmail.com
Programming Assignment 3	ps	pdf	Out: April 16	Due: 11:59 pm Saturday, May 9	Submit to: cscis124+pa3@gmail.com