CSC 656 - Fall 2019 - Schedule

The following gives a day-by-day breakdown of topics covered, readings assigned, and assignment handsouts/due dates. Each topic includes several required readings that students should read before the topic is discussed in class – always look ahead a few days to see what readings you should be doing. Some topics also have supplemental (non-required) readings that students can look into if they want to delve more deeply into that topic.

The schedule in this class is flexible, and past dates will be updated to reflect what was actually covered. Future dates are always tentative and subject to change.

Day 1: Wednesday, August 21

Topics: Syllabus review, class overview, and LaTeX
Handout: Syllabus
Assigned: Assignment 0

Day 2: Monday, August 26

Due: Assignment 0
Reading: Textbook, Chapter 1
Topics: Basic proof techniques and logical reasoning

Day 3: Wednesday, August 28

Topics: Continued from last time…
Assigned: Assignment 1

Note: No class on Monday, September 2 (Labor Day Holiday)
Day 4: Wednesday, September 4

Reading: Textbook, Chapters 3 and 5
Topics: Logical formulas and the SAT problem; Induction basics

Day 5: Monday, September 9

Reading: Textbook, Sections 6.1–6.3
Topics: Induction examples; Introduction to States, invariants, and program correctness/termination proofs

Day 6: Wednesday, September 11

Due: Assignment 1
Topics: Finish: Introduction to States, invariants, and program correctness/termination proofs Assigned: Assignment 2

Day 7: Monday, September 16

Reading: Textbook, Sections 7.1–7.4
Topics: Recursive data types

Day 8: Wednesday, September 18

Reading: Textbook, Chapter 14
Topics: Sums and Asymptotics

Day 9: Monday, September 23

Reading: Textbook, Sections 8.1–8.2
Topics: Infinite cardinality and the halting problem

Day 10: Wednesday, September 25

Due: Assignment 2
Reading: Textbook, Chapter 22
Topics: Recurrences

Day 11: Monday, September 30

Topics: Review for midterm exam 1

Day 12: Wednesday, October 2

Topics: Midterm exam 1

I will try to keep a tentative schedule filled out with planned topics for the next 2–3 weeks. Beyond that, there’s too much uncertainty, but the general outline of the course will be one-third analysis/proof techniques; one-third graph theory; and one-third probabilistic analysis.

Final Exam

Friday, December 6, 3:30-6:00