1. data structure and algorithm I
Prof. Hsin-Mu (Michael) Tsai (蔡欣穆)
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering
National Taiwan University

2. the Teaching team dsa1@csie.ntu.edu.tw Name Office Office Hour
Hsin-Mu (Michael) Tsai (蔡欣穆)
CSIE Building
R316
Fridays 2-3pm
Brandon Kao (高峻偉)
CSIE Building R432
Thursdays 11am-12pm
Ning-Chih Yao
(姚甯之)
Tuesday 2:30pm-3:30pm
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010

3. Class time & location Location: CSIE Building 102
Time: Fridays, NTU class time for 2, 3, 4
第二節 09：10～10：00
第三節 10：20～11：10
第四節 11：20～12：10
How about 9:10-10:00, 10:10-11:00, 11:10-12:00?
150 minutes of class, 30 minutes of break, 9:1012:10
What combination?
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010

4. textbook Fundamentals of Data Structures in C, 2nd Edition, 2008
Horowitz, Sahni, and Anderson-Freed
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010

5. Will follow the content of the textbook closely.
syllabus
Will follow the content of the textbook closely.
Topics:
Basic concepts
Arrays and structures
Stacks and queues
Linked lists
Trees
Graphs
Sorting
Hashing
Priority queues
Other search structures
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010

6. grades
2 exams
Midterm: November 12, 2010 (15%) (covers up to the class before the exam)
Final: January 14, 2011 (25%) (covers everything)
6 homework assignments (60%)
Only the best 5 will contribute to your final grade.
Each of the 5 will contribute 12% of your total score (5 x 12%=60%)
Each homework will include:
Programming assignments
Paper assignments
Extra credits for interactions with the instructor and TA’s.
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010

7. Grades
From this school year, all grades for courses will be LETTER GRADES (A, B, C, F).
A small difference in your grades WILL NOT affect your final grade.
Letter grade for this course: (just for reference)
A+: , A: 85-59, A-: 80-84
B+: 77-79, B: 73-76, B-: 70-72
C+: 67-69, C: 63-66, C-: 60-62
F: <59
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010

8. policy
Absolutely NO COPYING (and other unethical actions) in both exams and homework (programming and paper homework).
If you get caught, you will get an F (FAIL) grade for the course. No second chance.
It is OKAY to discuss with your classmates. But write the programs/answers by yourselves. Please write-down your partner’s name for each question in the homework.
Absolutely NO LATE HOMEWORK SUBMISSION.
You get 0 point if you don’t submit before the deadline.
However, we still “grade” it for you if you submit after the deadline.
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010

9. policy Grading criterion will be specified for each homework and exam.
We DISCOURAGE bargaining for higher grades (homework & exams)
Doesn’t make much sense for LETTER GRADES
Unless it is a trivial grading error made by us
Our policy: if you ask for a higher grade, please find someone who wrote the same or worse answers than yours, but has a higher grade. Submit both his/hers and yours to us.
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010

10. teaching philosophy
The course will focus on “how to use & implement the data structures and associated algorithms”, especially in realistic scenarios.
The goal is for “almost everyone” to understand the course materials.
You WILL have programming training in this course (homework assignments).
Prerequisites:
C programming language
Basic mathematics
Please compare with Prof. Hsueh-I Lu’s (呂學一教授) course objectives and pick the one you like to take.
Same time, same course, different content.
Possibly same grade distribution
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010

11. Resources dsa1@csie.ntu.edu.tw
Course website:
Download all course materials from here.
Lecture notes
Homework & solutions
Submit your homework to CEIBA (through the links on the course website)
Discussion board on CEIBA (through the links on the course website)
for asking anything about the course:
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010

12. 學習這門課的訣竅 聽懂上課內容、讀懂課本內容並不夠 要能夠講給別人聽， 講不清楚，就是不懂 把聽懂想懂的內容用自己的話寫下來
寫不下來，就是不懂
呂學一老師 的投影片

13. 鼓勵同學發問、多和老師互動 我的課堂上沒有笨問題 提醒：不保證適用全台大的課堂  問到就是賺到 當場弄懂最有效率
別怕承認不會, 就是不會才要學, 會了何必來？
我不點名，來不來上課沒關係
進度不重要
演算法沒有甚麼是非教到不可的範圍
演算法永遠教不完
範例問題：
可以請老師把XXX部分再說一次嗎?
提醒：不保證適用全台大的課堂 
呂學一老師 的投影片

14. 其他事項 加退選 上課時間 (請班代幫忙彙整同學意見) 對這門課的期望? 希望學到什麼? Review C Pointers
發言之後下課以後請找助教登記
DATA STRUCTURE AND ALGORITHM I
HSIN-MU TSAI, FALL 2010