CS 411 Fall 2025: Analysis of Algorithms

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CS 411 Fall 2025
Analysis of Algorithms

Department: Computer Science, UAF
Instructor: Glenn G. Chappell
Office: 539 Duckering
Office Hours: In person 11:45–12:45 MWF, 3:30–4:00 MW on fall 2025 class days, or by appointment; private Zoom meetings available on request
E-mail: ggchappell@alaska.edu

Announcements

• [Oct 3] Midterm Exam
  The Midterm Exam will be given in class on Friday, October 10. It will cover all course material from the beginning of the semester through Wednesday, October 8. Each student may bring to the exam one handwritten sheet (a sheet has 2 sides) of notes on standard-sized paper: US letter, US legal, or ISO A4.

  I have posted a set of optional review problems that you may wish to look at; see Week 6, below.

Course Materials

Week	Class Meetings	Readings & Homework	Handouts & Code See Git repository for code
Week 7 Oct 6–Oct 10	Oct 10: Midterm Exam Oct 8: Geometric problems (cont’d) [L 5.5]; Transform and Conquer [L Ch 6 intro]; presorting [L 6.1]; Outline Oct 6: Multiplication (cont’d) [L 5.4]; geometric problems [L 5.5] Outline & Supplemental Notes	Oct 6: Read L Ch 6 intro, 6.1.	closest_pair_dc.cpp [C++ source] Closest-Pair, Divide and Conquer Solution
Week 6 Sep 29–Oct 3	Oct 3: Binary tree traversals [L 5.3]; multiplication [L 5.4] Outline & Supplemental Notes Oct 1: Quicksort [L 5.2] Outline & Supplemental Notes Sep 29: Divide and conquer [L Ch 5 intro]; merge sort [L 5.1] Outline & Supplemental Notes	Online Quiz 6—on Canvas Due 5 pm Sun, Oct 5 Oct 3: Read L 5.5. Oct 1: Read L 5.3, 5.4. Sep 29: Read L 5.2. Assignment 3 (Divide and Conquer) Due 5 pm Tue, Oct 7	Midterm Exam Review Problems bintree_traverse.cpp [C++ source] Binary Tree traversals: preorder, inorder, postorder quicksort.cpp [C++ source] Hoare Partition & Quicksort iterative_merge_sort.cpp [C++ source] Iterative Merge Sort using random-access iterators merge_sort.cpp [C++ source] Merge Sort using iterators In-Class Worksheet 1: The Master Theorem—Solutions [PDF] Worksheet distributed in class Mon, Sep 29 In-Class Worksheet 1: The Master Theorem [PDF] Worksheet distributed in class Mon, Sep 29 inversions_test.cpp [C++ source] Test program for function template inversions Used in Assignment 3, Exercise B contigsum_test.cpp [C++ source] Test program for function template contigSum Used in Assignment 3, Exercise A
Week 5 Sep 22–Sep 26	Sep 26: Variable-size-decrease algorithms [L 4.5] Outline & Supplemental Notes Sep 24: Decrease by a constant factor [L 4.4] Outline & Supplemental Notes Sep 22: Generating combinatorial objects [L 4.3]	Online Quiz 5—on Canvas Due 5 pm Sun, Sep 28 Sep 26: Read L Ch 5 intro, 5.1. Sep 24: Read L 4.5. Sep 22: Read L 4.4.	introselect.cpp [C++ source] Introselect with Lomuto Partition mom_select.cpp [C++ source] Median-of-Medians Selection quickselect.cpp [C++ source] Quickselect with Lomuto Partition rpmult.cpp [C++ source] Russian peasant multiplication binary_search.cpp [C++ source] Binary Search using iterators
Week 4 Sep 15–Sep 19	Sep 19: Topological sort [L 4.2] Outline & Supplemental Notes Sep 17: Decrease and conquer [L Ch 4 intro]; insertion sort [L 4.1] Outline & Supplemental Notes Sep 15: Exhaustive search [L 3.4]; DFS & BFS [L 3.5] Outline & Supplemental Notes	Online Quiz 4—on Canvas Due 5 pm Sun, Sep 21 Sep 19: Read L 4.3. Sep 17: Read L 4.2. Sep 15: Read L Ch 4 intro, 4.1. Assignment 2 (A Problem, Part 1) Due 5 pm Thu, Sep 25	topological_sort.cpp [C++ source] Topological sort Uses find-source algorithm bridges_test.cpp [C++ source] Test program for function bridges Used in Assignment 2, Exercise A Uses the “doctest” unit-testing framework, version 2 Requires doctest.h, bridges.hpp, bridges.cpp insertion_sort_vector_recurse.cpp [C++ source] Insertion Sort on a vector, recursive Coding Standards graph_traverse.cpp [C++ source] Graph traversals: DFS & BFS
Week 3 Sep 8–Sep 12	Sep 12: Brute force for geometric problems [L 3.3] Outline Sep 10: Algorithmic strategies, brute force, exhaustive search [L Ch 3 intro]; simple brute-force methods [L 3.1–3.2] Outline & Supplemental Notes Sep 8: Analysis examples [L 2.5, Appendix B] Outline	Online Quiz 3—on Canvas Due 5 pm Sun, Sep 14 Sep 12: Read L 3.4, 3.5. Sep 10: Read L 3.3. Sep 8: Read L Ch 3 intro, 3.1, 3.2 (skip string-matching material).	closest_pair_bf.cpp [C++ source] Closest Pair, Brute Force solution selection_sort_vector.cpp [C++ source] Selection Sort on a vector bubble_sort_vector.cpp [C++ source] Bubble Sort on a vector fibo_matrix.py [Python 3 source] Computing Fibonacci numbers Based on matrix product fibo_iterate.py [Python 3 source] Computing Fibonacci numbers Iterative fibo_recurse.cpp [C++ source] Computing Fibonacci numbers Recursive (return 2, with wrapper) fibo_iterate.cpp [C++ source] Computing Fibonacci numbers Iterative fibo_recurse_slow.cpp [C++ source] Computing Fibonacci numbers Slow recursive method
Week 2 Sep 1–Sep 5	Sep 5: Analyzing recursive algorithms [L 2.4, Appendix B] Outline Sep 3: Analyzing nonrecursive algorithms [L 2.3, Appendix A] Outline Sep 1: No class (Labor Day)	Online Quiz 2—on Canvas Due 5 pm Sun, Sep 7 Sep 5: Read L 2.5. Assignment 1 (Analysis) Due 5 pm Thu, Sep 11 Sep 3: Read L 2.4.	num_bits.cpp [C++ source] Count bits in binary representation factorial_recurse.cpp [C++ source] Recursive computation of a factorial insertion_sort_vector.cpp [C++ source] Insertion Sort on a vector
Week 1 Aug 25–Aug 29	Aug 29: Asymptotic notation [L 2.2] Outline Aug 27: Framework for analysis of algorithms [L Ch 2 intro, 2.1] Outline Aug 25: Course introduction; introduction to analysis of algorithms [L Ch 1] Outline	Online Quiz 1—on Canvas Due 5 pm Sun, Aug 31 Aug 29: Read L 2.3. Aug 27: Read L 2.2. Aug 25: Read L Ch 1 intro, 1.1–1.4, Ch 2 intro, 2.1. The above date is when the reading is assigned. It should be done by the next class meeting (Wed, Aug 27 in this case). “L” refers to the Levitin text.	first_fit.cpp [C++ source] First Fit: approximation algorithm for the Bin Packing Problem Semester Plan Updated Sat, Aug 23 Syllabus Distributed in class Mon, Aug 25

Links

Text

Pearson Computer Science Resources: Levitin

From the publisher of the Levitin text, The “Student Resources” link allows you to download a ZIP file of PowerPoint slides.

Version Control

Git

Git is the the version-control software used in this class. This site includes downloads and a helpful tutorial.

Learn Git Branching

An excellent tutorial. If you are familiar with the Git operations clone, pull, push, add, and commit, but you are having trouble wrapping your head around branching, then this is for you.

Class Git Repository

Source code used in the class will be available in this repository.

C++

cppreference.com

A comprehensive, up-to-date reference for the C & C++ programming languages and their standard libraries. I have found this site to be very helpful; I use it often. One hidden gem is the Useful resources page

Jason Turner’s C++ Best Practices

An excellent page with recommendations on C++ development tools and their use. This is my primary source for which compiler warnings to enable—among other things.

Testing

doctest: The fastest C++ single-header testing framework

The website (on GitHub.com) for doctest, a C++ unit-testing framework used by all posted test programs in this class. doctest is simple and easy to use, it comprises only a single header file, and it is available as a free download distributed under a FLOSS license.