2017-09-08: Continuing SMP Intro Worksheet

Just a quick note to say that both sections are still working on the introductory SMP worksheet. See you tomorrow!

2017/09/06: First day notes

NOTE: We’re still figuring out whether we’ll separately post handouts and notes for each section or use one combined post. For now, here are handouts and notes similar to those both sections will use tomorrow. (If we split up by section, we’ll find a way for you to disentangle them easily!)


Welcome to CPSC 320!

Our overall course goal is to learn about a common and important set of problem types, algorithmic solution approaches, and analysis techniques, and to gain the tools and experience necessary to judge how a new problem might fit one of these categories, how to approach solving the problem, and how to analyze and adjust your solution.

A few administrative notes for today, much longer than our usual since it’s the start of the term:

  • Sign up for our Piazza discussion board at https://piazza.com/ubc.ca/winterterm12017/cpsc320/ and read the welcome post there that has other important material!
  • Get your @ugrad.cs.ubc.ca account set up. See the announcement on the Piazza board for more details.
  • Come to your registered tutorial next week (the week of Monday 11 Sep). There will be a graded quiz focused on stable marriage and algorithm/data structures design and analysis review!
  • Do the pre-class reading for 2017/01/06, which is Kleinberg and Tardos Section 1.1. (Do get the textbook ASAP or be prepared to thoroughly study other resources on your own! Previous terms’ students have suggested that the international edition is equivalent but cheaper, although we cannot guarantee that’s true!)
  • Review CPSC 221/EECE 320, especially asymptotic analysis and very high-level data structure info (binary trees, self-balancing binary trees, heaps, hash tables, etc.).

Next, here are today’s handouts:

 

Finally, if you wish to read ahead, we expect to read at least these sections in this order (changes may happen but probably not drastic ones):

  • The rest of Chapter 1 (and, for every chapter we read, the chapter intro)
  • Chapter 2 (largely review), with emphasis on 2.3
  • Chapter 3
  • Sections 4.1-4.7 of Chapter 4 (a bit of which is likely review)
  • Sections 5.1-5.4 of Chapter 5, plus the Master Theorem on Wikipedia
  • Sections 6.1-6.6 and 6.8 (which is likely review) of Chapter 6
  • Sections 8.1-8.5, maybe 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, and 8.10 of Chapter 8. Note that 8.10 is useful to read early and reread as you work through this chapter.

LaTeX Template

This is a LaTeX Template for assignments from the previous term.

Old Exams for Practice

Here are some old exams and sample exams (from previous terms).

Several caveats apply: Our term’s exams and course may differ from these term’s exams and courses in important ways (beyond, obviously, the specific questions used!). We do not have additional materials related to these exams that might be missing. We have not recently reviewed these, and we don’t know how well they relate to what our term has done so far.

Some of these require the login “cpsc320” and the solutions password for our term or a previous one to access, which are posted on Piazza:

Old samples I found through online searches:

Old course offerings are often available at http://www.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca/~cs320/YYYYSP, where YYYY is the 4-digit year, S is the session (W or S), and P is the part (1 or 2, often missing in summer). Here’s a few:

Welcome to CPSC 320!

Welcome to the website for CPSC 320 in 2017 Winter Term 1 (Sep-Dec 2017). We’re getting set up right now. Expect more as the term approaches. Looking forward to seeing you in September!!

In the meantime, please set up your @ugrad.cs.ubc.ca e-mail account, which you’ll need almost immediately for GradeScope submission of assignments and return of quizzes, assignments, and exams!