Data Structures and Algorithms 2

Lecture 1: Introduction and Logistics

Co-instructors: Robbie Hott and Ray Pettit

Spring 2024
Who’s Who in Algorithms?

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 Who’s Who in Algorithms?

Edsger Dijkstra
Al-Khwarizmi
Alan Turing Ada Lovelace

Ray Pettit
Radia Perlman Gauss
Robbie Hott

Tony Hoare Donald Knuth Stephen Cook 3

 Who’s Who in Algorithms?
Euclid – father of geometry, logic, number theory
Al-Khwarizmi – algebra, solution to linear and quadratic equations
Gauss – fundamental theorem of algebra, numeric analysis
Ada Lovelace – first computer program, more than number crunching
Alan Turing – breaking Engima, Turing Machine (abstract model of computation)
Edsger Dijkstra – structured programming languages, graph algorithms
Tony Hoare – Algol, Hoare logic, null reference, quicksort
Stephen Cook – polynomial time reduction, NP-completeness, proof complexity
Donald Knuth – analysis of algorithms, TAOCP, TeX, literate programming
Radia Perlman – spanning tree algorithm and protocol (STP), LOGO-Tortis language

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 A Historic Perspective
Euclid Al-Khwarizmi Gauss Ada Lovelace
Stephen Cook Radia Perlman

300 BC 800 1600 1800 1900

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Alan Turing Edsger Dijkstra Don Knuth
 What Is an Algorithm?
• In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is a finite
sequence of well-defined, computer-implementable instructions,
typically to solve a class of problems or to perform a computation.
Algorithms are unambiguous specifications for performing
calculation, data processing, automated reasoning, and other tasks.
[Wikipedia Jan 2020]
• An algorithm is a step by step procedure to solve logical and
mathematical problems. [Simple English Wikipedia Aug 2019]

Being unambiguous is not always easy!

An example

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 Goals
Create an awesome learning experience

Instill enthusiasm for problem solving

Give broad perspective on computer science

Have fun!

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 Co-Instructors

Prof. Hott Prof. Pettit

Rice 210 Rice 212
[email protected] [email protected]
Email or Piazza Email or Piazza
(no DMs in Discord) (no DMs in Discord)

Office Hours TBD! Wait for announcement!

See course website for TA office hours

[email protected]
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 Overview of Platforms
Canvas
• Mostly for linking to other things
Course Webpage
• https://uva-cs.github.io/cs3100-s24
• Contains syllabus, coursework instructions, lecture slides, lecture recordings
Gradescope (linked through Canvas)
• For submitting all assignments, viewing grades, requesting regrades
Discord
• Link will be announced soon!
• For communication, including: announcements, (some) office hours, memes, collaboration,
finding teams, etc.
Piazza (available through Canvas)
• For Q&A about content and assignments
• Instructors, TAs and other students read and answer, so ask here rather than email
instructors
 Requirements

• Discrete Math and Theory 1 (CS 2120 or CS 2102) with C- or higher

• Data Structures and Algorithms 1 (CS 2100) with C- or higher
• Logarithms, exponents, summations, derivatives, limits & series (Calc I)
• Tenacity
• Inquisitiveness
• Creativity

Note: CS2100 pre-req taken seriously. Don’t meet it? Need approval or
you will be dropped (after add deadline). L
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 Warning
This can be a very challenging class
• Hard material that combines problem-solving, logic, math and programming
• “Holy grail” of computer science
• Useful in practice
• Job interviews
Lots of opportunities to succeed!
I Quit!
Hopefully not you…

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 “Learning Sources”

From what sources will you learn?

What I say in Lectures
What you get from the slides
Explanations you read in CLRS
Activities you do in/out of class
Assignments
• All of these are important.
• Realistically, IMHO it’s impossible to get all the “book knowledge”
from lectures and slides!
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 Textbook
You really need to read and study material other than the slides.
There are options, but a textbook is the easiest option.
I’ll post readings from CLRS, urge you to read them.
Note: We will also have some resources posted on Collab site.

Freely accessible online via

the UVA library
Follow this link!

We may also ask you to

Cormen et al. (CLRS) Introduction to Algorithms read other online materials!
4th Edition. (3rd edition OK, but…)
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 Units and Assignments
Five Units: Course work for each unit will
include:
1. Graph Algorithms
• Quiz (in-class, closed book)
2. Divide and Conquer
• 1 Programming Assignment (PA)
3. Greedy Algorithms
• 2-3 Weekly Problem Sets (PS)
4. Dynamic Programming
5. Network Flow, Reductions, Additional coursework:
Machine Learning • “PS0”, a warm-up exercise on
using LaTeX typesetting
• Several surveys, activities along
the way
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 Course Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students will:
• Understand and implement more advanced data structures, including (but not limited
to) graphs and sets (e.g., find-union). Be able to analyze the asymptotic complexity of
the operations of these structures and use them to solve problems.
• Understand a variety of problem solving paradigms such as dynamic programming,
divide-and-conquer, and greedy algorithms. Be able to implement a variety of
algorithms, including Breadth-First (and Depth-First) Search, Dijkstra’s algorithm, Ford-
Fulkerson, and others.
• Analyze a new problem and select an appropriate problem-solving technique. Be able
to construct an algorithm to solve the problem, prove the correctness of their algorithm,
and analyze the asymptotic behavior of the algorithm.
• Analyze behavior of algorithms with recursive, and other more advanced properties.
Solve recurrence relations for their closed form either manually or via the Master
Theorem. Prove both upper and lower bounds on the behavior of such algorithms.
Note: department course specification also includes an introduction to machine learning
and topics on ethics and machine learning.
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 Grading Breakdown
Note: unlike some courses/semesters, each assignment gets a numeric
score, and they’re combined to get an overall course score from 0-100
• Quizzes: 50%
• Programming Assignments (PAs): 20%
• Reminder: one per unit
• Problem Sets (PSs): 25%
• Activities and Course Feedback (5%)

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 Quizzes
In-person, in your assigned section’s classroom
• Feb. 29: Quiz 1 (Graphs), Quiz 2 (Divide and Conquer)
• Apr. 11: Quiz 3 (Greedy), Quiz 4 (Dynamic Programming)
• May 2 (7-10 pm): Quiz 5 (Network Flow, Machine Learning), Re-take Questions

“Re-take” Opportunity for Quizzes 1-4

• During final exam period (along with Quiz 5)
• Available only if you made a reasonable first attempt on quiz
• Answer 2-3 questions on that unit
• Grade on those questions will replace up to 10 missing points on score from
first attempt of that unit’s quiz
• Example: First attempt score is a 75/100. You get 5 of 10 on re-take. Final score: 80/100.
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 Problem Sets (PSs)
Goal: Think carefully and practice problem solving with techniques
discussed during the unit
Grading: We will assign points for each question based on a rubric
What are they like? A set of approximately 2-3 questions
• Concept-level questions, details of what we've studied
• Design an algorithm for a given problem (pseudocode, words)
• Analyze an algorithm (mathematically), provide a proof of correctness
Collaborate? Yes, in groups of up to 5
• But everyone must prepare and submit an individual write-up
• Submissions must be formatted in LaTeX! (more later)

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 Programming Assignment (PAs)
Goal: Explore one or more topics from a unit by applying and
implementing it
Grading: Primarily based on passing test-cases on Gradescope
• Include comments: any sources, collaborators
• We may ask you to answer short discussion questions about your solution
Languages accepted: Python (3.10.6), Java (19.0.2)
Collaborate? Not in writing or debugging the code, but…
• Can discuss the problem and the overall strategy with other students
• Must list these people in your submission
• Cannot share code, look at each other’s code! (Read syllabus carefully!)

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 PS0 – LaTeX Warmup

PS0 is out this week, due next week!

• Learning LaTeX
• LaTeX (pronounced “LAH-tech”) is a markup language where
you mix text and commands in a .tex file, run process the file to
get a publication-quality PDF output file
• Created to format mathematical symbols and texts
• You can create .tex files and run LaTeX in the cloud using a site
called Overleaf
• PS0 is due next week

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 Academic Integrity
Collaboration Encouraged!
For PSs: groups of up to 5 per assignment (you + 4)
• List your collaborators (by name and UVA computing ID)
• OK to discuss problem, approach to solution, even details about
solution, but… collaboration is "whiteboard only"
• Write-ups (.tex files) must be created independently
• DO NOT share written notes / pictures / code / etc
• DO NOT share documents (ex: Overleaf)
Be able to explain any solution you submit!
DO NOT seek published solutions online
See syllabus about online code examples

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 Academic Integrity
Collaboration Encouraged!
For PAs: you can talk, strategize, design,… together,
but creating and debugging code must be done alone
• List your collaborators (by name and UVA computing ID)
• DO NOT share pieces of code or programs or files
• DO NOT share debugging of code
Be able to explain any solution you submit!
DO NOT seek published solutions online
See syllabus about online code examples
See syllabus about generative AI

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 Late (and Early) Policy
PAs and PSs can be submitted early for a 2% bonus
• Final submission to Gradescope must be 48 hours before the deadline
• Start early, meet with your groups, come to office hours as needed
 Late (and Early) Policy
But, sometimes things happen in life, and we can't meet the deadline
• PAs and PSs may be submitted 48 hours after the deadline
• Requests must be made using our online form (see course website)
• Must include a valid reason
• Must be made before the deadline
• Must acknowledge getting an extension for the assignment
• Must include significant work (uploaded to the form)
• No penalty for late submissions within this window
 Generative AI
For each assignment, we’ll say if and how generative AI tools can be used
• When you use a tool, you must properly document and credit the tool
(including the prompt)
• Failure to do this is serious violation of academic integrity!
• Keep in mind tools may produce incorrect results, or may result in
plagiarism or copyright violations
• It is your responsibility—not the tool’s—to assure the quality, integrity,
and accuracy of work you submit
• Having said all this, in CS3100 we will examine how such tools can be
useful in the study and practice of algorithm design and analysis!

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 Feedback
We professors are not course dictators, more like civil servants.
We’re open to any suggestion to help you learn.
Let us know!
• In person
• Piazza
• Course staff email: [email protected]
• Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
• PLEASE: put CS3100 in subject line of all emails
• (No Discord DMs, please)

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Pre-Course Survey

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 Let’s Get Acquainted
Would you like to know a bit about me? J

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A motivating problem

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Need an accurate
approximation 𝜋

How much concrete

do I need?

4.3km (2.7mi) diameter

𝜋 Approximation Algorithm
𝜋 = 3.14159265359...

Circumference = 2𝜋
𝜋 Approximation Algorithm
𝜋 = 3.14159265359...

Perimeter > 2𝜋 > Perimeter

𝜋 Approximation Algorithm
𝜋 = 3.14159265359...

1 1

2𝜋 > Perimeter = 6
𝜋 Approximation Algorithm
𝜋 = 3.14159265359... 1 digit correct
Solve for 𝑥 𝑥
2
2
𝑥= 𝑥
1 𝑥
3 2

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= Perimeter > 2𝜋 > Perimeter = 6
3 3.46 > 𝜋 > 3
𝜋 Approximation Algorithm
𝜋 = 3.14159265359... 3 digits correct

20 20
6+ = Perimeter > 2𝜋 > Perimeter = 6 +
70 3.14285 > 𝜋 > 3.14084 71
 How to analyze this approach?

How fast do we “converge?”

How much work is needed to do better?
 Better 𝜋 Approximation (Ramanujan)

$
1 2 2 4𝑘 ! (1103 + 26390𝑘)
= 1
𝜋 9801 𝑘! % 396%!
!"#

𝜋 = 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459
𝑘=0
𝜋 ≈ 3.1415927 8 digits per iteration!
𝑘=1
𝜋 ≈ 3.1415926535897938
Next Steps

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 Review
Next class we will:
• Review how we analyze algorithms, including
• Asymptotic notation, order classes, worst-case, etc.
• Remind you how all this works by applying/reviewing it with sorting
and searching you did in previous course
• Sequential search, binary search
• Sorting: insertion, quicksort, maybe mergesort
• Review and/or introduce proofs from CS2120
• Proof by induction
• Introduce you to how this can be used for proving algorithm correctness

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