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General Information

Class Meetings

Lectures: Mon/Wed/Fri, 9-9:50 AM, Room SCI 233

Instructor

Prof. Nadeem Abdul Hamid
Office: SCI 354B 		Phone: (706) 368-5632 (office)
Email:
Office Hours: Mon-Fri 8-9AM / Mon, Wed 11AM-1PM / Tue 10-11AM / (or by appt)

Objectives and Outcomes

Course Catalog Description

CSC 320 Algorithms and Models of Computation 3-0-3
Models of computation and computational complexity. General algorithmic strategies and advanced data structures. Algorithms for specialized problem domains, including artificial intelligence and numerical methods. Parallel algorithms and distributed computing. Prerequisites: Grade of C or better in both CSC 220 and CSC/MAT 219.

Course Objectives

Upon completion, students should be well-acquainted with the basic methods and results related to the design and analysis of algorithms. They should be able to recognize the application of these methods to problems from different fields. Furthermore, they should be able to reason about the efficiency and correctness of algorithms, and communicate such reasoning in an effective manner.

In particular, students should be able to:

Expected Outcomes

Students will meet the objectives with at least 75% success, based on performance on assignments and exams.

Materials and Methods

Methods of Instruction

Three lectures per week.

Materials and Resources

Required Textbook:
Jon Kleinberg and Eva Tardos, Algorithm Design, Addison-Wesley, 2005. ISBN# 0-321-29535-8.
Optional Reference:
Anany Levitin, Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms, Addison-Wesley, 2003. ISBN# 0-201-74395-7.
Online course website:
http://csserve.berry.edu/csc320 - It is your responsibility to check the web site for this course regularly (i.e. daily) throughout the semester, as it will be regularly updated with announcements, lecture notes, source code, assignments, etc.

Assignments and Grading

Student grades will be determined on a standard 10% grade scale: 90% - 100% earns an A, 80% - 89% earns a B, etc., with the instructor reserving the right to apply +/- grades at his discretion. Grades will be based on the weighted average of the following course work:

Participation (10%)
Attendance and participation in class will be taken into consideration as well as in-class exercises and/or occasional (possibly unannounced) quizzes. (See Attendance Policy below.)
Assignments (60%)
There will be a regular series of weekly assignments throughout the course. For the most part these will consist of written exercises from the textbook. Notice, the major portion of your grade will be based on these assignments, so you must not fall behind in this respect.
Exams (30%)
There will be 2 exams, tentatively scheduled as follows. Each exam will be worth 15% of the course grade.
  • Midterm Exam, Friday, March 3, 2006
  • Final Exam, Tuesday, April 25, 2006 (10:30 am - 12:30 pm)

Syllabus and Schedule of Classes

See the course webpage (here) for a list of tentative lecture topics, readings, and assignments.

Course Policies

Attendance Policy

Please see the Berry College Viking Code for "Class Attendance Policies" (pp 10-11, 2004-2005 edition). Missing three (3) or more classes without justifiable reason (and appropriate documentation) will be considered excessive absences and an alert form will be sent to the proper authorities.

Attendance records will be kept by the instructor. Sign-in sheets will be circulated every class period and attendance records will be kept from the sign-in sheet. If your name is not readable on the list, you will be marked absent. Signing for someone else will be considered a serious breach of academic integrity. Similarly, endeavoring or engaging in any method to sign your name, or have your name signed, when you are absent will be treated as a breach of academic integrity.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to have read carefully and understood the rules governing breaches of academic integrity that are to be found in the Viking Code (pp 16-17) and the Course Catalog (pp 27-28, 2003-2005 edition).

For this course, any work that you submit must be entirely your own (unless I specifically allow you to work in pairs/groups on a particular assignment). Do not copy or use other students' submission or any other existing code (including code on the Internet). Copying programs and code from other sources and trying to just make minor changes therein will be detected and can result in severe penalties, up to and including an F in the course. You are always welcome to consult me for assistance - in person, by email, phone, etc. - if you are stuck.

As a general rule, if you do not understand what you are handing in, something is probably wrong. If you have given somebody some code simply so that it can be used in that person's assignment, you are probably cheating.

Late Work

Late work will not be accepted unless an excuse is obtained prior to the day on which the assignment is due. This policy will be waived only in an "emergency situation" with appropriate documentation and/or prior arrangement with the instructor.

(Note: "I couldn't get the computer to work" or "My email/internet was not working", etc. are not acceptable excuses for late work (in general -- if the Berry network experiences major downtime I will adjust deadlines). If you start working on assignments early, instead of at the last minute, you will have time to ask me about any technical difficulties you are having.)

Disabilities Accommodation Statement

Students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in this course are encouraged to contact the Academic Support Center in Krannert Room 326 (Ext. 4080) as soon as possible to ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. Failure to contact the Academic Support Center will constitute acknowledgement that no disability exists and that no accommodations are needed.