CourseOverview:
CS 338 is an introduction to design and analysis of computer
algorithms.
The class deals with the core concept of Computer Science:
How can you design efficient algorithms to solve problems and how
can
you tell whether they are efficient?
Along the way we will discuss some standard "tricks" people have
discovered that work in solving many problems - really, approaches or
views of problem classes that lend themselves to certain standard
approaches.
In addition, we will discuss some classes of problems where there
appear
to be no possible efficient algorithms available.
The class uses mathematics extensively but, unlike CSCI 339 - Formal
Languages, the material itself is not mathematics. Instead, we are very
much concerned with software and how it works. Mathematics is just a
tool
to aid us in understanding and analyzing the performance of algorithms.
Course Objectives:
Students completing CS 338 should be able to design new algorithms for
solving problems and determine whether the algorithms are efficient.
Further,
those who finish CS 338 should be able to recognize a large class of
intractable
problems so that they will not waste their time trying to look for
efficient
solutions to them.
Lynn Ziegler, lziegler@csbsju.edu
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