CSCA08 Winter 2018 Week 1: Algorithms - University of … · 2018-01-12 · CSCA08 Winter 2018 Week 1: Algorithms ... • Adding two numbers ... • To represent your algorithm, you

CSCA08 Winter 2018Week 1: Algorithms

Marzieh Ahmadzadeh, Brian Harrington

University of Toronto Scarborough

Welcome

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Course Structure Break Algorithms

• What is this course about?• Problem solving (i.e. designing algorithms)

• Representing the solution using a programming language (i.e. python)

• Outcome: • You should be able to solve almost any given programming problem.

• Course website:• https://mathlab.utsc.utoronto.ca/courses/csca08/

• Link to lecture notes, assignments, exercises, Piazza, Markus, announcement, course syllabus etc.

https://mathlab.utsc.utoronto.ca/courses/csca08/

Who are we?

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• Marzieh Ahmadzadeh• [email protected] • BSc in Software Engineering • MSc & PhD Nottingham University, UK• Worked as a software engineer for 4 years and 11 years in academia• Office: IC468 • Office Hours: Mondays 3-4 & Wednesdays 2-3

• Brian Harrington• [email protected]• BSc. University of Toronto Scarborough• MSc & D.Phil University of Oxford• Teaching at UTSC since 2012• Office: IC342• Office Hours: Thursdays 1-3

Means of Communications

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• Piazza• First point of contact• For any question about weekly assignments, technical problems or anything that

peers or TAs can answer.• But not for major assignments

• Link in course website• If you registered for the course but not in Piazza, drop me an email with your utorid,

name and student number

• Be respectful • You may be anonymous for your peers but not for instructors.

Means of Communications

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• Tutorials• To practice what you have learnt• To learn new materials• Smaller group of people• Pop up quizzes • Once a week

• Attend one tutorial only

• No tutorial this week.

• Practicals• To practice even more• Drop-in sessions• Attend as many sessions as you’d like• No practical this week.• Time & location will be announced later.

• Office hours

Lectures

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• 2 hour traditional lecture, one hour inverted lecture• No inverted lecture this week.

• Lecture slides will be posted on course webpage

• Attendance is strongly recommended• The usefulness of slides is similar to having some (but not all) of the

ingredients of a Pizza without a dough

• Important announcement will be made

Textbook

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• No textbook for this course

• But still plenty of readings

Assessment

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Assessment Weight Comment

Midterm* 25% Written Exam. Two tests.

Final* 40% Comprehensive written exam.

Assignments 20% 3 Assignments.

Weekly Exercises 10% 10 Assignments. Equal weight.

Inverted Lecture 5% 10 Assignments. Equal weight.

* To pass the course, you must earn at least 50% of the total of midterm and final.

Important Dates

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Uploaded DateDeadline

Date Time

Wee

kly

Exer

cise

s

1 12-Jan 20-Jan 11:30 PM

2 19-Jan 27-Jan 11:30 PM

3 26-Jan 3-Feb 11:30 PM

4 2-Feb 10-Feb 11:30 PM

5 9-Feb 17-Feb 11:30 PM

6 16-Feb 24-Feb 11:30 PM

7 2-Mar 10-Mar 11:30 PM

8 9-Mar 17-Mar 11:30 PM

9 16-Mar 24-Mar 11:30 PM

10 23-Mar 31-Mar 11:30 PM

Assignment 1 2-Feb 18-Feb 11:30 PM

Assignment 2 23-Feb 11-Mar 11:30 PM

Assignment 3 16-Mar 1-Apr 11:30 PM

Midterm 1 TBA

Midterm 2 TBA

Final TBA

Collaboration

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• Exercises are there to help you learn:• So I do encourage you to collaborate on exercises however everyone should

submit their own version.

• Assignments are there to evaluate you: • So NO collaboration on assignments are accepted.

• Plagiarism detectors will catch you!

Late submission

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• No late submission for exercises is accepted.

• Late submission for assignments are accepted if you have legitimate reason such as medical emergency.• Email me asap before the deadline with illness verification form.

Missed midterm

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• If a midterm is missed for legitimate reason1. Provide the document such as illness verification form

2. If accepted, your final exam will replace your missed midterm.

Academic Integrity

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• Plagiarism - Using the words or ideas of another person without citing the source.

• Unauthorized Aids - Using unauthorized aids, which could be considered cheating on tests and exams.

• Unauthorized Assistance - Having someone else do the work for you.

• Forgery or falsification - Making a false statement, presenting a false document or signing someone else’s name on a document required by the University.

• Personation - Having someone else write an exam for you or writing an exam for someone else.

• Self- Plagiarism - Submitting work for credit in a course when you have submitted it in another course

AccessAbility

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• Diverse learning styles

• disability/health consideration that may require accommodations

• Feel free to approach me and/or the AccessAbility Services ASAP.

• AccessAbility Services: • Room SW302 • 416-287-7560 • [email protected].

• The sooner you let us know your needs the quicker we can assist you in achieving your learning goals in this course

mailto:[email protected]

How to succeed in this course

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• Practice, practice & practice• Do not give up easily• Do not just read

• Stop, think, and do it yourself• Use pen & paper

• Have a rest if you encounter a problem and come back later• Try to break the code

• You should run every single code of the book.

• Do pair programming• Of course not for assignments

• Ask questions!

Break

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What is Computer Science?

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• Is all about algorithms

• Algorithms: • A set of instructions

• That can be followed one step after another

• Your job in this course is to design algorithms• This course is not about python

Why algorithms?

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• Computers are STUPID.

• They can follow very simple instruction very fast.

• So if you have a big problem in hand you need to “BREAK IT DOWN” for computers to understand it. • Cooking recipe

• Adding two numbers

• Decide to take umbrella if it is rainy

• IKEA assembly instruction (a perfect example)

Algorithm to Code

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• Every Algorithm has 3 steps:• Input, Process and Output• To represent your algorithm, you use pseudocode or flowchart

• Computers can only understand 0s and 1s • But it is extremely difficult to translate your algorithm to a series of 0 or 1 that

computer understand.• So we use a programming language (i.e. a set of instruction) to create a code (or a

program)• e.g. Python, Java, C, C++

• This programming language itself needs to be translated to a sequence of 0s and 1s

Execution

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• The next step is to translate your code for execution• Compiler or Interpreter

• Pyhton has an interpreter

• If your code is error free you’ll see the output.

• Types of Errors:• Syntax

• Semantic

• Runtime (aka exception)

Documents

CSCA08 Winter 2018 Week 1: Algorithms - University of … · 2018-01-12 · CSCA08 Winter 2018 Week 1: Algorithms ... • Adding two numbers ... • To represent your algorithm, you