Welcome to CS 2! We’re super excited to have you here this term!
Announcements
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Lectures will be on Zoom. You can click here to get the Zoom link (and other course related private links).
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We have some great extra sessions called exploration workshops that the TAs will run (one per week). Check them out!
Due Next
Calendar
Wellness and Inclusion
It is very important to us that you succeed in CS 2. We provide many extra resources to help you. Adam and the TAs hold many office hours, and we have a message board called Ed Discussion.
It is also very important to us that you maintain your mental wellness throughout the course. A few points are not worth losing sleep over. Everyone on the course staff is available to chat, and you can always attend office hours for a non-academic conversation if necessary. You can also visit the counseling center if you find you need help beyond the course staff. If you have a temporary health condition or permanent disability (either mental health or physical health related), you should contact accessibility services if you have not already. Additionally, if there is something we can do to make your experience better, please let us know.
Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are all core values of this course. All participants in this course must be treated with respect by other members of the community in accordance with the honor code. If you feel unwelcome or unsafe in any way, no matter how minor, we encourage you to talk to Adam or one of the Deans. We view these sorts of honor code violations as completely unacceptable, and we take them very seriously.
Tools
Course Staff
Instructor
Teaching Assistants
Handouts
The following is a list of handouts that you might find helpful throughout the course. We’ve categorized them by when they are useful.
Course
Syllabus – an overview of the course and administrative information
Collaboration Policy – the course collaboration policy
Course Policies & Guidelines – an overview how the course will work since we’re online
Exploration Sessions – a list of optional sessions to explore topics the TAs have selected as interesting
Week 0
Python2Java ‘Finger’ Exercises – some exercises to help you acclimate to Java coming from a Python world
Java/Python Comparison – a comparison of the basic syntax of Python with Java
Software Setup – instructions on how to get Java, IntelliJ, and git for the course
Schedule
| L00 | Mon, Jan 04 |
Introduction and OOP
[ pdf |
recording |
code
]
Course administrivia. Designing Java classes. Designing data structures. Object oriented programming.
|
| :D | Tue, Jan 05 |
Lab01: Explosive Debugging [ spec ]
Debugging JUnit tests. Prints. The IntelliJ debugger. Breakpoints.
|
| L01 | Wed, Jan 06 |
Problem Decomposition
[
code
]
Using an API. Helper methods. Quadgrams. Log likelihoods. Java String API. Reading documentation.
|
| Lab01 (debugging) due @ 11:30 pm on Thu, Jan 07 | ||
| L02 | Fri, Jan 08 |
Basic Data Structure Trade-Offs
[ pdf |
recording |
code
]
Lists. Sets. Maps. Nested data structures. Efficiency.
|
| L03 | Mon, Jan 11 |
Implementation: ArrayIntList
[
recording |
code
]
Arrays. Implementing an ArrayList. Designing a class to fit an API.
|
| Project01 (ciphers) due @ 11:30 pm on Mon, Jan 11 | ||
| :D | Tue, Jan 12 |
Lab02: Adventure Game [ spec ]
Reading stack traces. Using the IntelliJ Visualizer for debugging.
|
| L04 | Wed, Jan 13 |
Generics and Implementation: ArrayList
[
recording |
code
]
Generics. Java types. Interfaces.
|
| Lab02 (adventure) due @ 11:30 pm on Thu, Jan 14 | ||
| L05 | Fri, Jan 15 |
Iterators and Implementation: SimpleArraySet, SimpleSortedArraySet
[
recording |
code
]
Iterators. Implementing a set. Data structure trade-offs.
|
| :( | Mon, Jan 18 | No Class: MLK Day |
| Project02 (hangman) due @ 11:30 pm on Mon, Jan 18 | ||
| :( | Tue, Jan 19 | No Lab: Mental Health Break! |
| L06 | Wed, Jan 20 |
Stacks, Queues, and Implementation: LinkedList
[
recording |
code
]
Collections. Stacks. Queues. Nodes. Implementing a linked list.
|
| L07 | Fri, Jan 22 |
The Power of Recursion
[ pdf |
recording |
code
]
RECURSION
|
| L08 | Mon, Jan 25 |
Trees and BSTs
[ pdf |
recording
]
The tree data structure. Binary search trees.
|
| Project03 (synthesizer) due @ 11:30 pm on Mon, Jan 25 | ||
| :D | Tue, Jan 26 |
Lab04: Decision Trees [ spec ]
N-ary trees. Basic machine learning.
|
| L09 | Wed, Jan 27 |
Tries
[
recording |
code
]
The trie data structure.
|
| Lab04 (decision trees) due @ 11:30 pm on Thu, Jan 28 | ||
| L10 | Fri, Jan 29 |
Recursive Backtracking
[ pdf |
recording |
code
]
More tries. The recursive backtracking pattern.
|
| L11 | Mon, Feb 01 |
Asymptotic Analysis
[ pdf |
recording
]
How do we measure "efficiency" of code? What does it mean for an algorithm to be "more efficient" than another one?
|
| Project04 (movies) due @ 11:30 pm on Mon, Feb 01 | ||
| :D | Tue, Feb 02 |
Lab05: Anagrams [ spec ]
Recursive backtracking.
|
| L12 | Wed, Feb 03 |
Hash Tables I
[ pdf |
recording
]
The hashtable data structure.
|
| Lab05 (anagrams) due @ 11:30 pm on Thu, Feb 04 | ||
| L13 | Fri, Feb 05 |
Hash Tables II
[ pdf |
recording
]
More hashtables. Collision resolution. Rehashing.
|
| L14 | Mon, Feb 08 |
Heaps & Priority Queues
[ pdf |
recording
]
The heap data structure.
|
| :( | Tue, Feb 09 | No Lab! |
| L15 | Wed, Feb 10 |
Interlude: P & N Positions and Nim
[ pdf |
recording
]
Combinatorial Game Theory!
|
| L16 | Fri, Feb 12 |
Memoization
[ pdf
]
Top-down dynamic programming. Memoization tables.
|
| :( | Mon, Feb 15 | No Class: President's Day |
| Project05 (markov) due @ 11:30 pm on Mon, Feb 15 | ||
| :D | Tue, Feb 16 |
Lab07: Grundy's Game [ spec ]
Memoization and Games!
|
| :( | Wed, Feb 17 | No Class: Blackouts |
| Lab07 (grundy) due @ 11:30 pm on Thu, Feb 18 | ||
| L17 | Fri, Feb 19 | Graphs I: Representation [ pdf | recording ] |
| L18 | Mon, Feb 22 | Graphs II: DAGs [ pdf | recording ] |
| :D | Tue, Feb 23 |
Lab08: Pebbling [ spec ]
Graphs and Games!
|
| L19 | Wed, Feb 24 | Graphs III: Single-Source Shortest Paths |
| Lab08 (pebbling) due @ 11:30 pm on Thu, Feb 25 | ||
| L20 | Fri, Feb 26 | Game Graphs |
| L21 | Mon, Mar 01 | Impartial and Partisan Games |
| Project06 (chat) due @ 11:30 pm on Mon, Mar 01 | ||
| :D | Tue, Mar 02 |
Lab09: Turning Turtles
|
| L22 | Wed, Mar 03 | Minimax and Alphabeta |
| Lab09 (turtles) due @ 11:30 pm on Thu, Mar 04 | ||
| L23 | Fri, Mar 05 | Value Iteration |
| L24 | Mon, Mar 08 | Sorting |
| :D | Tue, Mar 09 |
Lab10: Pig
|
| L25 | Wed, Mar 10 | Victory Lap |
| Lab10 (pig) due @ 11:30 pm on Thu, Mar 11 | ||
| Project07 (maps) due @ 11:30 pm on Fri, Mar 12 | ||
| Project08 (othello) due @ 11:30 pm on Fri, Mar 12 | ||