In person lectures will be held in CSE2 (Gates Hall) room G10 at 10:30am–11:20pm.
Attending lecture is strongly encouraged. However, apart from the in-class quizzes which are clearly marked in our course calendar, there are no in-class assignments or other penalties for missing lecture. Recordings of lectures are automatically posted to Canvas under the Panopto tool (though delays and technical mishaps may occur).
Both Nathan and Glenn will lecture on different days. See the Calendar for details.
For questions about personal circumstances, please email both Nathan and Glenn at the same time, and include CSE421
in the subject line. For questions about course content and homework, please use the Ed Discussion Board and office hours.
For introductions and more information, see Staff.
No textbook is required for this course. Lectures will contain all of the information that you need to know.
However, we will suggest optional reading from a book that may help reinforce the content. The primary source will be: Algorithm Design
by Jon Kleinberg and Éva Tardos, Addison-Wesley, 2006. This textbook often proceeds at a different pacing than this course and covers material in a different order, so please treat it only as a side reference.
Optional readings from other texts may be suggested as well, and we will provide those digitally as needed.
Homework will be posted simultaneously on the Tasks page and Canvas, and should typically be submitted on Canvas. Programming assignments (of which we will only have a small number) should be submitted on Gradescope. We will make every attempt to deliver assignment instructions in stuch a way that it is obvious how they should be submitted.
Limited collaboration and external resources will be allowed. See the Academic Integrity Policy for details.
Homework problems will involve the following types:
This course contains two non-cumulative quizzes and one cumulative final exam. See the Calendar for dates and topics. Quizzes will be held during the normal lecture time in the normal lecture room.
Assessments will feature problems similar to standard homework, but are intended to be slightly easier given the limited time.
You will be provided a standard reference sheet for each assessment, which will be made accessible to you beforehand, and you may bring one additional sheet of notes (8.5 x 11 in, double sided, to be collected). Please do not copy someone else’s notes sheet, since the act of planning and writing a notes sheet is often more impactful than using it during the assessment, especially if you handwrite it. No collaboration or other assistance is permitted on the exam.
At any point throughout the quarter, feel free to submit anonymous feedback to the course staff. If you are dissatisfied with lecture, with the quantity or usefulness of homework, or with any else about the course design and operations, please let us know so that we can fix it. We also appreciate positive feedback!
Please click here for the CSE-wide universal anonymous feedback tool.
This course uses ESNU qualitative grading. Instead of numerical scores, most assignments will recieve one of the following 4 letter grades:
| Task | # | ESNUs | % of available | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard homework | 16 | 14 | 35% | 2 dropped |
| Homework extensions | 8 | 6 | 15% | 2 dropped |
| Concept checks | 28 | 4 | 10% | 4 dropped, ESNU conversion below |
| Quizzes | 2 | 8 | 20% | 4 ESNU per quiz, none dropped |
| Final exam | 1 | 8 | 20% | None dropped |
| Total | 40 | 100% |
Your two worst standard homework grades and two worst homework extension grades will be dropped from the final score calculation.
Concept checks have unlimited retries and are graded for completion. A concept check is considered complete if all questions are correct. Every 6 complete concept checks convert to 1 E grade, after which 4 convert to 1 S grade and 2 convert to 1 N grade, up to a maximum of 4 ESN grades total. Thus, you can miss 4 concept checks without penalty.
Each quiz/exam will be divided into sections that will be individually be scored by ESNU. Each quiz will have 4 sections and the final exam will have 8 sections.
If you meet or exceed the number of ESN grades in the table below, we will guarantee that you receive a course GPA that is at least the amount shown. Grades will be interpolated between the cutoffs shown. Based on your personal circumstances and course-wide threshold adjustments, your final GPA may be higher than suggested by this table, but will definitely not be lower. We will try to be fair about this.
In the table below, S+
means E or S, and N+
means E or S or N.
| Grades | GPA |
|---|---|
| 35 E, 3 more S+, 2 more N+ | 4.0 |
| 28 E, 7 more S+, 3 more N+ | 3.5 |
| 20 E, 12 more S+, 4 more N+ | 3.0 |
| 10 E, 18 more S+, 6 more N+ | 2.5 |
| 24 S+, 8 more N+ | 2.0 |
| 18 S+, 10 more N+ | 0.7 |
All standard homework and most homework extensions come with a due date approximately 1 week after release, and a last resubmission date a little under 3 weeks after release (subject to modifications). This policy is designed to encourage you to correct your mistakes and learn more, and at the same time prevent procrastination and allow us to release official solutions for some homework problems before quizzes and exams.
When resubmitting work, you must include a changelog that explains what was wrong before and an overview of how you fixed it. Please write the changelog as a comment directly in Canvas. Resubmitted work completely replaces the old grade (meaning it is possible that your grade will go down).
Concept checks are autograded and can be immediately resubmitted as many times as you like. There are no resubmissions for discussion posts. There are no resubmissions for quizzes and exams.
All late submissions will be accepted without penalty until the last resubmission date. However, grading of late submissions may be delayed. Since there is no penalty for resubmission either, we encourage you to submit partial work by the standard due date even if you are not done, so that you can recieve feedback on your partial work before submitting your final version.
Discussion posts will not be accepted late. Concept checks will not be accepted late (but remember that you can miss 4 concept checks without penalty).
You can request a regrade for any quiz or exam through Gradescope within 48 hours of the grade being returned. Please only submit a regrade request if the grader made a mistake, leading to letter-grade change in your score, and not for disagreements about harshness. When doing so, please explain how you believe the grader misunderstood your work and how your work should be understood.
For homework, if the resubmission period for homework is still open, we recommend editing your submission to make your intent clearer and resubmitting, instead of submitting a regrade request (since resubmissions are free). If the resubmission period has lapsed, since Canvas does not have a built-in regrade request function, please email us the request following the same policy as quizzes/exams.
We always really hope that everyone will behave honestly. At the same time, we know that everyone is sometimes tempted by the easy path that dishonesty can enable. If you do something you regret, the sooner you tell us, the sooner (and more leniently) we can correct it.
No homework question will require the use of external materials. You can answer it using the techniques and materials that we provide. However, you may use external materials with the following restrictions:
I collaborated with Brett Wortzman on solving the recurrence relation and I consulted www.geeksforgeeks.org/binary-heap for the running times of Binary Heap operations.
Collaboration with other students is allowed, but is restricted to whiteboard only
collaboration. This means that you should:
Because you are not sharing any written notes, we expect that the wording and expressions used in every solution to be different and in your own words. Submissions that are very similar are thus evidence for violation of this rule.
The University of Washington strives to provide accessibility to all students. If you require an accommodation to fully access this course, please work with the Disability Resources for Students (DRS). If you are unsure if you require an accommodation, or to learn more about their services, begin by visiting the DRS website. For this course, we ask that students with special circumstances let us know as soon as possible, preferably during the first week of class or as soon as accomodations are approved.
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.
We are dedicated to providing a safe and equitable learning enironment for all students. Two values of critical importance to us are that:
If you or someone you know has been affected by power-based personal violence, I encourage you to use Safecampus as a resource. As your instructors and as humans, please know that we care about you and your well-being, and stand ready to provide support and resources to the best of our abilities.
Additionally, if at any point you are made to feel uncomfortable, disrespected, or excluded by a staff member or fellow student, please report the incident so that we may address the issue and maintain a supportive and inclusive learning environment. Should you feel uncomfortable bringing up an issue with us directly, you may consider contacting the Office of the Ombud.
Unfortunate things happen. People forget things and make mistakes. Bad days coincide with due dates. And so on.
If you believe that circumstances warrant a change in deadline, a second chance, or some other accommodation in order to more accurately synchronize grade with knowledge, come talk to either Nathan or Glenn or both of us, and we’ll resolve the situation as best we can.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or isolated, there are many individuals here who are ready and wanting to help. The University of Washington Counseling Center offers short-term counseling students and crisis service for urgent situations. Call 206-543-1240 (or 866-427-4747 for after hours and weekend crisis assistance) to get started and schedule an appointment.