Comments on: Some general questions. http://apollonius.cs.utah.edu/classes/algorithmsf07/2007/12/06/76/ Suresh Venkatasubramanian // MEB 3105 // MW 1045-1205 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:10:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: admin http://apollonius.cs.utah.edu/classes/algorithmsf07/2007/12/06/76/#comment-190 admin Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:06:37 +0000 http://apollonius.cs.utah.edu/classes/algorithmsf07/2007/12/06/76/#comment-190 I think there's a fairly strong sentiment towards incorporating programming in a systematic way throughout the class, and I think the one thing I'll try to change for next time is to throw in a reasonable programming element. Z brought a number of interesting ACM programming competition problems to my attention, and I think that's a good source of material. They also have a nice infrastructure for submitting and evaluating code. I think there’s a fairly strong sentiment towards incorporating programming in a systematic way throughout the class, and I think the one thing I’ll try to change for next time is to throw in a reasonable programming element.

Z brought a number of interesting ACM programming competition problems to my attention, and I think that’s a good source of material. They also have a nice infrastructure for submitting and evaluating code.

]]> By: A. Star, M. Carlo, David N. Conquer, etc. http://apollonius.cs.utah.edu/classes/algorithmsf07/2007/12/06/76/#comment-189 A. Star, M. Carlo, David N. Conquer, etc. Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:54:06 +0000 http://apollonius.cs.utah.edu/classes/algorithmsf07/2007/12/06/76/#comment-189 I've always really liked projects, and something team-based (maybe with presentations) would seem very beneficial for this class. That way, if some team is really interested in sorting (for a simple example) they might show the details of different sorting algorithms beyond big-oh complexity (for example often you're given an almost sorted list so different algorithms work better with certain inputs, or for small n constants matter, etc). I think anything that can be demoed would be cool, limiting it to web-demos only seems to knock out a lot of power that the other languages have. As far as what we did cover, I really liked the demos shown in class (the day we were in 3147). It seemed like the randomized algorithms portion was a little rushed - I would have liked to spend more time on that, because I think it's the part of the course I now understand the least (admittedly that might just be because I associate it with the PCP stuff). As far as my comments as to the final...I really liked how we could answer sub problems independently (answering 1.b without answering 1.a, etc.). I didn't like how much it differed from the homework. It seemed like the HW problems were all along the lines of "here's a problem, what's an algorithm that would solve it?" whereas the test had "here's an algorithm, analyze the smeg out of it". (I do realize that this format is what allowed the independent answering, but hey - double edged sword). Going back to programmin', one advantage of having programing problems for each assignment is that we'd have a better sense as to whether or not we got the question right. If questions were along the lines of "Here's a problem, here's what your input looks like, here's what you output should look like, and here're some examples, go." (much like the ACM problems) then I think that would be cool. A problem is (and maybe (although I'm really hoping not) this is just me) whenever there's coding involved it takes a lot longer due to debugging. I’ve always really liked projects, and something team-based (maybe with presentations) would seem very beneficial for this class. That way, if some team is really interested in sorting (for a simple example) they might show the details of different sorting algorithms beyond big-oh complexity (for example often you’re given an almost sorted list so different algorithms work better with certain inputs, or for small n constants matter, etc).
I think anything that can be demoed would be cool, limiting it to web-demos only seems to knock out a lot of power that the other languages have.
As far as what we did cover, I really liked the demos shown in class (the day we were in 3147). It seemed like the randomized algorithms portion was a little rushed - I would have liked to spend more time on that, because I think it’s the part of the course I now understand the least (admittedly that might just be because I associate it with the PCP stuff).
As far as my comments as to the final…I really liked how we could answer sub problems independently (answering 1.b without answering 1.a, etc.). I didn’t like how much it differed from the homework. It seemed like the HW problems were all along the lines of “here’s a problem, what’s an algorithm that would solve it?” whereas the test had “here’s an algorithm, analyze the smeg out of it”. (I do realize that this format is what allowed the independent answering, but hey - double edged sword).
Going back to programmin’, one advantage of having programing problems for each assignment is that we’d have a better sense as to whether or not we got the question right. If questions were along the lines of “Here’s a problem, here’s what your input looks like, here’s what you output should look like, and here’re some examples, go.” (much like the ACM problems) then I think that would be cool. A problem is (and maybe (although I’m really hoping not) this is just me) whenever there’s coding involved it takes a lot longer due to debugging.

]]> By: admin http://apollonius.cs.utah.edu/classes/algorithmsf07/2007/12/06/76/#comment-188 admin Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:56:40 +0000 http://apollonius.cs.utah.edu/classes/algorithmsf07/2007/12/06/76/#comment-188 Duly noted. thanks for the feedback. Duly noted. thanks for the feedback.

]]> By: Back from Vegas! http://apollonius.cs.utah.edu/classes/algorithmsf07/2007/12/06/76/#comment-187 Back from Vegas! Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:54:33 +0000 http://apollonius.cs.utah.edu/classes/algorithmsf07/2007/12/06/76/#comment-187 Prof. Suresh, one suggestion for improvement is the final exam style. This test was really gruelling. This should also have been done in the Midterm style with some choice. Also, some questions would best have been asked in assignments, where we have more time (>4 days) to think and may be learn some math, without so much heat from other exams. Hope you find this useful. Prof. Suresh, one suggestion for improvement is the final exam style. This test was really gruelling. This should also have been done in the Midterm style with some choice. Also, some questions would best have been asked in assignments, where we have more time (>4 days) to think and may be learn some math, without so much heat from other exams. Hope you find this useful.

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