Description: cs473 is an algorithms course aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduate students in computer science and related disciplines.
Lecture: TR2-3:15, Siebel 1404.
Staff:
| role | name | (netid) | office hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| instructor: | Prof. Michael A. Forbes | (miforbes) | T3:30, TBA |
| teaching assistant: | Christian Howard | (howard28) | TBA |
| teaching assistant: | Pooja Kulkarni | (poojark2) | TBA |
| course assistant: | TBA |
The calendar lists lecture topics, associated lecture materials, and auxiliary reading. It also lists the problem sets with release- and due-dates, as well as listing the exam schedule.
The forum for the class is Piazza (code).
The submission server for the class is Gradescope (code). When submitting assignments, student must use their @illinois.edu netid so the course staff can appropriately map students to submissions.
A students grade in the course compromises the 12 psets of 3 problems each (25%), 2 (non-cumulative) exams (22.5% each), and 1 (cumulative) final (30%).
The lectures for the course will be in-person, subject to covid modifications. If and when lectures are online, lectures will be held synchronously on zoom.
Materials from lecture (slides, boardwork, etc) will be posted, within 24 hours of the lecture, on the calendar. Recordings of the (online, or in-person) lecture will similarly be posted, within 24 hours of the lecture, on the calendar
The main materials for the class are the above-mentioned lecture materials. Auxiliary pointers to written material will be listed for each lecture, and are approved materials for collaboration purposes. Additional approved textbooks are as follows.
cs374 or equivalent, or graduate standing. In particular, students are assumed to have mastered the material taught in cs173 (discrete mathematics) and cs225 (basic algorithms and data structures). We emphasize that "mastery" is not the same as "exposure" or even "a good grade". Programming experience is helpful; a strong mathematics background is even more helpful.
Students who have completed this course are prepared for various other theoretical computer science courses at UIUC, such as the following regularly offered courses.
In accordance with university guidelines for Spring 2022, the first week of the course will be online. Lectures will be held synchronously on zoom; lecture recordings will be posted on the calendar.
In accordance with university guidelines for facial coverings, all in-person participants in lecture must wear an approved facial covering, regardless of vaccination status. In addition, no eating or drinking will be allowed in the lecture hall.
The course will use Piazza as a forum.
The forum will be the sole source of announcements from the course staff. Students should sign-up promptly to avoid missing such announcements.
The forum is also intended for students to connect amongst themselves on all course-related issues, except when such discussion reveals significant information about solutions to pending assignments. Posts can be made anonymously to other students (but not to the course staff). The students in the course can sometimes offer the best help; please make this resource the best it can be.
The forum is finally meant for private communication between the students and the course staff, especially for logistical matters such as scheduling conflicts. Emailing course staff directly is heavily discouraged. While the forum can be used for private help from the course staff on course content, a quicker and more thorough response is often achieved through a public discussion.
In order to avoid distracting other students, any student (without prior accommodation) who uses a computing device with a screen that does not lie flat on table/lap must sit in the back half of the lecture hall. Some examples:
If you require an accommodation with regards to this policy, please contact the course staff.
Students are allowed to work in groups of up to three when submitting problem sets, except for pset0 which must be submitted individually. A single pset submitted with multiple authors must be an honest collaboration of all students involved on all problems of the pset, and is otherwise considered a violation of academic integrity.
Verbal discussion (oral or electronic) with other students in the course is highly encouraged, subject to the constraint that submitted psets must list all such collaborators. However, the composition of the pset submissions must be solely the work of the listed author(s). In particular, no sharing of written solutions is allowed.
For example, if a student in a group of 2 others, works with another 5 other peers in a collaboration group, then the submitted pset of the original student must list all 5 peers, but only have been written by the original group of 3 students.
Students are allowed to use any listed course materials, or discussions with students or staff affiliated with the course. Students are forbidden from using any other online, textbook, or human resource.
The first violation of academic integrity is a zero for the entire assignment (pset, exam, or final). The second violation is a reduction of 1 letter grade.
A students grade in the course compromises the 12 psets of 3 problems each (25%), 2 (non-cumulative) exams (22.5% each), and 1 (cumulative) final (30%). All problems from problem sets are worth the same number of points. The 6 lowest-scoring problems for all pset problems will be dropped for the entire collection of 3× 12=36 problems algorithm, except for those problems for which students receive zero scores due to integrity violations.
Regrade requests will be open for two weeks after an assignment is returned. Regrade requests will result in the entire assignment (pset, exam, or final) in being regraded; as a result the overall score may decrease.
Solutions will be presented for all graded coursework. Do not share solutions beyond students and staff affiliated with the course.
As mention in the section, the 6 lowest-scoring pset problems will be dropped from a students score. As such, no late psets will be accepted.
In extreme circumstances, coursework (psets, exams, or final) may be dropped. Such circumstances include documented injury or illness, and do not include predictable events such as job interviews. Students should contact the course staff if they believe this policy applies to them.
Above all, coursework should be clear and concise. Students are suggested to address the following sections in their coursework:
The level of detail required for coursework should be more than is presented in lecture — lecture is time-constrained so not all details can always be presented in full. In contrast, coursework solutions are presented in more detail than is typically expected of students — such solutions are so detailed to ensure student comprehension.
Figures are highly encouraged. Many algorithms act on combinatorial objects such as graphs, and discussing such objects without a figure is a pain to write, and to read.
Student psets must obey the following constraints:
To use your time wisely, students are encouraged to focus on content of their coursework over format. However, content and format are not fully independent. As such, students are suggested to consider the following advice on submission formats.
When multiple students can form a group to submit problem sets, a single student should upload the submission on behalf of the rest. That student should ensure that they appropriately label the additional authors (in the submission server upload, as well as within the pset.
When submitting assignments, student must use their @illinois.edu netid so the course staff can appropriately map students to submissions.