Practical Course: Algorithms for Programming Contests

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Please use the following e-mail address: conpra@in.tum.de.

Area

Computer Science III (Theoretical Computer Science)

Prerequisites

Basics of programming in C, C++ or Java, for instance from the lecture Introduction to Informatics 1
Lecture Fundamentals of Algorithms and Data Structures

Grading

To pass the practical course you need to solve enough of the exercise problems on your own and pass an oral examination in the end of the semester. The mark is computed using the quality and number of problems solved as well as the oral examination.

Description

Programming contests are competitions for solving problems with the help of computer programs. By taking part in these contests one may improve skills in using algorithms and data structures as well as in problem solving, software development and teamwork through fun and games. Important topics in computer science are combined with the fun in programming.

There are plenty of programming contests by now, each of them having a different mode and focus. The exercise problems in this course will be similar to the ones used in the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), an international programming contest for students which is run by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) since the 1970s. In this contest, groups of up to three students each need to solve eight to ten problems in five hours using one computer only. The Computer Science Department of TUM has been participating in the ICPC with multiple teams for several years.

A sample problem of our practical course gives an impression of the problems we are going to solve in this course.

There will be a lecture where we explain algorithms for a new topic each week. During the following week, the participants need to solve problems related to this topic. Solutions, different ideas and remarks regarding the problems will be presented in the next lecture. The problems differ in the level of difficulty: There will be problems asking for straightforward implementations of the presented algorithms as well as harder problems. For submitting and judging the submissions we will use TUMjudge, a fork of a system which is used for many rounds of the ICPC.

Goals of this course are

• a deep understanding of fundamental algorithms and data structures,
• getting to know specialized algorithms used in current research,
• improved skills in problem solving and problem analysis,
• practice in recognizing needed algorithms for given problems on one's own,
• improved capacities in teamwork by taking part in team contests,
• the application of important mathematical techniques as well as
• preparing the participants for programming contests.