Properties of algorithms

Presentation & objectives

You are certainly not the first developer to face your current problem. It certainly means that several solutions to solve it have already been envisioned.

How to compare them and to select the most appropriate one? This is the central question addressed in this session. You will acquire theoretical and technical skills to judge the adequacy between a problem and a possible algorithmic solutions. To do so, you will study theoretical algorithmic properties (specification, termination, deterministic/stochastic).

Before the class

Technical requirements

To be able to start working on the activity, you should meet the following requirements:

• Please bring your own computer.
• Make sure to have a functional network connection.

During the class

Knowledge acquisition

To be able to start the practical activity efficiently, we will introduce some needed concepts at the beginning of the class. To save you some time, we will present you a few slides, that you can find hereafter:

• Slides of the session.

These slides only cover the main elements of the course, and many more details are given in the associated articles, that you should study in details:

• Algorithmic complexity.
• Binary search tree.
• Randomized algorithms.

You can verify your understanding of these articles here:

• Self-assessment quiz.

Practical activity

The rest of the class is dedicated to a practical activity. When ready, click on the link below to start:

• Practical activity.

After the class

Complete the current session

Before the next session, you should:

• Review the contents of the articles above.
• Complete the non-optional parts of the practical activity.

Prepare the next session

Also, you should:

• Check the “Before the class” section of the next session, and make sure you do everything required to prepare it.