Course Description - CSCI 570, Fall 2013, Both Sections

Focus		Note From A Doctor		Student Responsibilities
Textbooks		Regrading Policy		Fairness
Syllabus / Topics Covered		Using Public Code		Auditing
Homework Assignments		Office Hours		E-mail
Exams		Extra Credits		Academic Integrity Policy
Grading		Class Newsgroup		Academic Calendar
Late Policy		Implicit Student Agreement		Additional Resources

• J. Kleinberg and E. Tardos, Algorithm Design, Addison Wesley, 2005.

• T. Cormen, C. Leiserson, R. Rivest, and C. Stein, Introduction to Algorithms, 3rd Edition, MIT Press, 2009.
  

• Introduction and representative problems
• Basic algorithm analysis
• Graph algorithms
• Greedy algorithms
• Divide and conquer
• Dynamic programming
• Network flow
• NP & Computational intractability (if time permits)
• PSPACE (if time permits)

The exams are usually closed book, closed notes, and closed everything (and no "cheat sheet"). Also, no calculators, cell phones, or any electronic gadgets are allowed. There will be assigned seating.

Participation:		3% (extra credit)
Midterm #1:		30%
Midterm #2:		35%
Final Exam:		35%

Pleaes also note the following:

• The above percentages will be used to calculate your total score. Final grades (A,B,C,D,or F) will be determined using a modified curve (i.e., we won't necessarily assign an equal number of failing grades as passing grades) based on this total score. No other methods will be considered. (So, please do not ask the instructor to take how much you have improved since the beginning of the semester into account. You are expected to try your best from the beginning!)

• We will assign grades of C and below to individuals who do not perform satisfactorily in the above areas. (i.e., you should not assume a B- or even C if you perform unsatisfactorily.) However, we hope that everyone will perform well.

• Your assignments are your own work! No group assignments are allowed or will be tolerated. You are free to talk to other students about assignments but no actual material (files, photocopies, code fragments, etc.) should be shared. We will act harshly at any sign of copying.

• We will not assign incompletes unless it is for a documented medical reason (in accordance with USC policy).

All homeworks must be turned in on time. Late submissions will receive severe penalties. Due to clock skews, electronic submissions of homework assignments will be accepted within 15 minutes after the specified deadlines without penalties. If you submit within the next 24 hours, you will receive 80% of your grade. Although right after midnight, you will lose 1% every 5 minutes. When the penalty reaches the day limit, it flattens out. For example, if your submission has a timestamp that is 32 minutes after the grace period, 7% will be deducted from your assignment after grading; if your submission has a timestamp that is 1 day, 6 hours, and 41 minutes after the grace period, you will receive a score of zero (and your assignment will not be graded). The figure below summarize the deductions.

If you are unable to complete a homework assignment due to illness or family emergency, please see the instructor as soon as possible to get an extension. A doctor's note is required as proof of illness or emergency. In general, when you get sick, it's best to see a doctor and get a note just in case you may need it later.

So, if you visit a doctor at the Student Health Center, please make sure you fill out one of these forms, check the "limited discussion with faculty" checkbox, get it stamped, signed, and dated by someone there (a clerk/receptionist would sign at the "witness" line), and bring it back to me. This would satisfy the "note from a doctor" requirement so that you can get an extension.

If you visit a doctor somewhere else, please either bring a "note from the doctor" or a similar authrozation letter so I can contact them.

1. If you copy a whole file and don't change the file, all you have to do is to add the folowing comment to the top of the file to give proper credit:

       /*
        * This file is downloaded from the following location:
        *     [ give the URL ]
        * The source code has not been modified.
        * The file has the following copyright from the original author:
        *     [ give the copyright as required by your source ]
        */

2. If you copy some code from a web site and put it in a file where you wrote other code in the file and did not change the downloaded code, you must add the following comment for each class declaration and each function to give proper credit:

       /*
        * This class definition (or function) is downloaded from
        * the following location:
        *     [ give the URL ]
        * The source code has not been modified.
        * The file has the following copyright from the original author:
        *     [ give the copyright as required by your source ]
        */

3. If you copy some code from a web site and have modified the code, you must add the following comment for each class declaration and each function to give proper credit:

       /*
        * This class definition (or function) is derived
        * from the code available at the following location:
        *     [ give the URL ]
        * The file has the following copyright from the original author:
        *     [ give the copyright as required by your source ]
        */

If you use public code and does not follow the instruction above and MOSS did not matched your code with someone else's code, you will lose 5 points (in a 100-point scale) for improper citation.

Please note that a book that's not free is not a public source! If you want to use code from a book, please scan pages from the book and e-mail the pages to the instructor before the submission deadline.

If this is too much trouble for you, you can simply choose not to use code from public sources! If you want to use code from public sources, this is a small price to pay.

If you need to see me outside of office hours, it's best that you make an appointment (and reserve a timeslot) so I can make sure to be in my office when you visit. Making an appointment is not a big deal! Just send an e-mail to me and tell me when you are available to meet and go from there.

A class Google Group is used as a class mailinglist and discussion forum for students-to-students discussions. The main purpose of this is for the students to discuss things about homework assignments with each other. Students may not exchange code here because it would violate academic integrity policy of USC. Posting of small code segments (less than or equal to 4 lines of code) is allowed as long as it is meant to clarify discussions.

The instructor and the TA do not normally read this forum. Please do not post questions for them here.

Please make sure that you have read the Academic Integrity Policy of this course.

This policy also holds for programming assignments. In this class, we will use sophisticated automated program checkers to detect cheating. Be aware that the program checkers have demonstrated very good results and are widely used within the academic community. Any student caught cheating will be given zero credit and will be disciplined.

It is the students responsibility to submit their assignments electronically in time.

There is no specific prerequisites for this course. No special assistance or consideration will be offered if your background is inadequate.

If you covered the background material for this course at some other school it is YOUR responsibility to fill in any missing background. Feel free to ask me for advice on appropriate introductory readings if you feel your background is insufficient.

We expect you to attend every class meeting. If you do happen to miss a session, you are responsible for finding out what material was covered and if any administrative announcements were made. You must do so BEFORE the next session (e.g., if there is an assignment given during the missed session, you are still responsible for completing it by the next week along with the other students).  You are advised to read the textxbook for a particular lecture before attending the lecture. This will greatly enhance your understanding of the subject matter.

Please do not ask the following types of questions in your e-mail:

• Here is my understanding of X. Am I right (or is this correct)?
  (You can do this for just about everything and in many different ways. I do not have the bandwidth to deal with too many questions like this. However, often times, you should be able to ask a slightly different question and get the same answer that you are looking for. This type of questions is completely appropriate for office hours.)

• I don't understand X. Could you explain X to me?
  (It's your responsiblity to come to lectures and ask questions during lectures if there is something you do not understand. If you did attend lectures, then it is appropriate to ask this during office hours.)

• Here is what I am thinking of or doing... is it acceptable (or is this okay)?
  

  (What you are really asking is whether you will receive full credit or not. Wouldn't it be great if you can ask this during exams? It's not an appropriate question for assignments for the same reason it is not appropriate for exams. Although there is a difference between programming assignments and exams, but since you are asking about grading, it's inappropriate. If you asking if it's okay to take a shortcut. The answer is always, "No" or "At your own risk.")

Programming:

• C Programming (by Steve Holmes at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, England) - includes notes on make, separate compilation, file I/O, etc.
• Makefile tutorial (at Colby College)
• Steve's Software Trek (by Steve Karg) - includes some useful C/C++ source code for string manipulation, INI file manipulation, etc.
• C Examples - lots and lots of sample C code for basic stuff.
• C/C++ at USC from USC ITSWeb
• Online Judge online portal for IT interview

• Ubuntu Linux
• cygwin (BSD system with X11R6 on Windows XP)
• Some Often-used UNIX Commands
• Unix commands (more complete, from University of Utah)
• UNIX Shell Programming (Chapter 2 of this book gives a good introduction to UNIX)
• UNIXhelp for Users from the University of Edinburgh
• UNIX Tutorial for Beginners from the University of Surrey
• Introduction to the Unix Shell from the Canisius College
• Introduction to C Shell Programming from the Canisius College
• C/C++ Documentation (compiling, linking, additional libraries, include files) from USC ITSWeb
• Understanding C by learning assembly
• UNIX Documentation (concepts, commands, X-Windows) from USC ITSWeb
• Editors on most UNIX systems
  • Vi Text Editor Documentation from USC ITSWeb
  • EMACS Text Editor Documentation from USC ITSWeb
  • Pico Text Editor Documentation from USC ITSWeb
• Beej's Quick Guide to GDB
• Richard Stallman's gdb Tutorial
• General information on operating systems, productivity applications, Internet connectivity, e-mail and web publishing at USC, can be found at the ITS software site. You can click on your operating system and download useful software from there. For example, for the Windows platform, you can find things like X-Win32, FileZilla, and PuTTY there.