This course introduces students to the design and implementation of fundamental data structures and algorithms. The course covers basic data structures (linked lists, stacks, queues, binary heaps, hash tables, trees, and graphs), searching and sorting algorithms, and basic analysis of algorithms.
The programming language used for this course is Java.
We use very basic object-oriented programming concepts in various data structures implementations, e.g., Stack class inherits LinkedList class (more details of OOP are in CS2030).
Note: This introductory message will not be prominent the next time you visit this URL again. This behavior is normal. You can view it again by scrolling to the top of this page.
For AY 2025/26, Prof Halim teaches CS2040S (CS students) in S1 (since S1 AY 2023/24);
but also returning to teach CS2040C (CEG, InfoSecurity, exchange students) in S2 (last was S1 AY 2022/23).
Some facts:
| Rating (out of 5.0) |
Aug-Nov 25 (n=???/206) ≥ 50% |
Aug-Nov 24 (n=128/161) 80% ▲ |
Aug-Nov 23 (n=90/128) 70% ▼ |
Aug-Nov 22 (CS2040C) (n=162/206) 79% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course feedback (SoC CS avg lvl 2000 ~3.9) | [4.1..4.2] (tgt) | 4.2 == | 4.2 == | 4.2 |
| Course difficulty (SoC CS avg lvl 2000 ~4.1) | [4.0..4.1] (tgt) | 4.2 ▼ (almost 4.1) | 4.3 == | 4.3 |
| Prof Halim's teaching (SoC CS avg lvl 2000 ~4.2) | [4.4..4.5] (tgt) | 4.5 (PB for 2040S) ▲ | 4.4 ▼ | 4.5 |
TAs:
| Date, Time | Live Session (Venue) (#Stu/#Cap) | No | TA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/Mon, 1000-1200 | COM1-B109 (PL2) (28/28) | 01 | @sure_isse |
| 1/Mon, 1000-1200 | COM1-B108 (PL3) (24/24) | 02 | @junhano.o |
| 1/Mon, 1200-1400 | COM1-B109 (PL2) (28/28) | 03 | @chronal_02 |
| 1/Mon, 1200-1400 | COM1-B108 (PL3) (24/24) | 04 | @pisciprehender |
| 1/Mon, 1400-1600 | COM1-B108 (PL3) (24/24) | 05 | @mono.kanae |
| 1/Mon, 1400-1600 | COM1-B109 (PL2) (28/28) | 06 | @wilkinsang |
| 1/Mon, 1600-1800 | COM1-B108 (PL3) (24/24) | 07 | @ahzong |
| 1/Mon, 1600-1800 | COM1-B109 (PL2) (26/27) | 08 | @chowwars |
| 5/Fri, 2100-2300 | Zoom Recurring Link (free and easy) | - | various TAs |
List of TAs (ordered using Lab Group Number — Ivan is not taking any lab group):
This is what students learn in CS2040/C/S as taught by Prof Halim, compare it with the subset IT5003 version:
If you have any important questions regarding this course, email dcssh at nus edu sg. Relevant answers will be posted here to reach wider audiences.
Note: This course registration section will not be prominent from Week 1 onwards. This behavior is normal. You can view it again by scrolling to the top of this page.
| Date | News |
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| Week | Tutorial+Lab Combo | Lecture | Interesting Problem Set |
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| Cells with course material that have not been updated are highlighted with pink color, past classes more than one week ago are hidden so that we can focus on the current and future classes, but you can restore them by clicking 'Show Past' button above, future classes are not highlighted | |||
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-01, 28 Jul-01 Aug |
Has Not Started |
Has Not Started, but please revise your CS1101S/equivalent Prof Halim assumes that all of you have taken or exempted from this course/its variants Register at Kattis and LeetCode (use full name as in Matric card), read Java specific instructions @ Kattis, pick up basic Java by yourself, and solve the selected Online Judge (OJ) Problem Set 0 (PS0) by yourself (CS1101S/equivalent level) and LeetCode OJ programming-skills study plan (solving many 'trivial problems' from this set ---the Kattis one is trackable by Prof Halim, indirectly tells him about your CS1101S/equivalent rough grade) There was a CS2040 placement test for AY25/26 incoming IOI medallists on Wed, 30 Jul 2025 late evening Bolivia time and Thu, 31 Jul 2025, 9-11am SGT |
PS0: Easy Coding Challenges (01-13 Aug) Already graded to speed up registration admins Solve any 3 out of 10 trivial tasks for 1% |
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00, 04-08 Aug |
Has Not Started |
Has Not Started Continue attempting Kattis PS0 and LeetCode programming-skills study plan (hints in class Discord) Singapore National Day on Sat, 09 August 2025 |
PS0, continued Remember, solve any 3 for 1% |
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01, 11-15 Aug |
Has Not Started Extra exercises from programming-skills: Mon: plus-one (simulate +1 on a 'big' integer), Tue: to-lower-case (trivial task), Wed: robot-return-to-origin ((virtual) 2D grid traversal), Thu: matrix-diagonal-sum (2D grid processing), Fri: count-odd-numbers-in-an-interval-range (PIE). |
01a. Course Admin, (Re-)Introduction to Java 1. Setting the tone for a flipped classroom course VisuAlgo + this Private Canvas + Kattis (NUS) + LeetCode 2. Basic Java review/new feature introduction 3. Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: A few PS0 and/or programming-skills problems (just for warm-up) In the middle of 01a: VisuAlgo Online Quiz 0 (0%) There was 1 trivial question during the first lecture Bring your own laptop This one is put here to speed-up admins (don't skip the first lecture) Reminder: Read simple algorithms on unsorted array (Slide 1 to 6-1) before the next lecture 01b. Algorithms on Unsorted Array Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: rankproblem (a List ADT task; Java ArrayList operations: add (2 versions), indexOf, remove; and using Java class) Reminder: Read sorting intro, algorithm analysis, and O(N^2) sorting algorithms (Slide 1 to 9-3) before the next lecture |
PS0 (1%) Due: Wed, 13 Aug 25, 11.29am PS1: Basic Programming Out: Wed, 13 Aug 25, 11.30am Mentioned at the end of the first lecture CS2040S students do problem B+C problem A is optional (extra (easy) practice) |
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02, 18-22 Aug |
Has Not Started Next exercises mostly from programming-skills again: Mon: monotonic-array (a monotonic array is a sorted array), Tue: spiral-matrix (interesting 2D grid traversal variant), Wed: robot-bounded-in-circle (a bit harder than robot-return-to-origin), Thu: shortest-unsorted-continuous-subarray (discussed in CS2040S Lec02b), Fri: average-salary-excluding-the-minimum-and-maximum-salary (just do it). But (e-)Consultation starts from Fri, 22 Aug Focus on PS1B+C late birds discussion |
02a. Analysis of Algorithms (Slide 1 to 9-3) 1. Live SpeedTest.cpp | py | java demo (measure runtime, count # of operations, vs asymptotic analysis) 2. Fast review of O(N^2) sorting algorithms 3. Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: thanos (analysis: exponential growth, logarithmic steps) mjehuric (bubble sort simulation) height (insertion sort simulation) nothanks (sorting library and linear pass) 02b. Algorithms on Sorted Array Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: classfieldtrip (merge of mergesort; or any other solution that works) shortest-unsorted-continuous-subarray (O(n log n) vs O(n) solutions) Last flipped classroom reminder: Read all sorting e-Lecture slides before next lecture |
PS1 (2%) Due: Sat, 23 Aug 25, 07.59am PS2: Sorting-related Problems Out: Sat, 23 Aug 25, 08.00am |
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03, 25-29 Aug |
T01+L01: tut01.pdf Introduction, OOP review (List ADT, ListArrayTest.py | java) Algorithm Analysis, Hands-on, a basic List ADT task, PS1 Debrief (short), PS2 Discussion (algorithmic) Extra exercises: Mon: kids-with-the-greatest-number-of-candies (simple exercise), Tue: merge-strings-alternately (discussed in Lec03a), Wed: sort-colors (discussed in Lec03a), Thu: find-the-highest-altitude (discussed in CS2040S Lec03b), Fri: product-of-array-except-self (may help to solve something in PS2). |
03a. Sorting (Slide 10 to 13-2) 1. O(N log N) Merge Sort (C++ stable_sort; Java Collections.sort; Python list.sort) 2. Exp O(N log N) (Rand) Quick Sort (C++ sort; Java Arrays.sort (primitives); N/A in Python) Sorting Online Quiz (easy) White-box: SortingDemo.cpp | py | java Black-box: Java Collections.sort, Arrays.sort (object), Arrays.sort (primitives) 3. Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: sortofsorting (custom comparator, stable sorting library) merge-strings-alternately (variant of merge of Merge sort) sort-colors (Dutch National Flag problem) 03b. Sorting Extras (until end) A preview of Ω(N log N) lower-bound of comparison-based sorting algorithms Special-purpose O(N) sorting algorithm: Counting Sort (Only) Other topics of sorting, e.g., counting inversions, counting minimum swaps Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: find-the-highest-altitude (prefix sum, for PS2) |
PS2, continued |
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04, 01-05 Sep |
T02+L02: tut02.pdf Sorting Application(s), Sorting, mini experiment, QuickSelect, ADT/List ADT, VA OQ demo (sorting), Hands-on, sorting applications, PS2 Discussion (algorithmic) Extra Exercises: Mon: can-make-arithmetic-progression-from-sequence (sort first), Tue: design-linked-list (try adapting SLLDemo (Lec03a) to solve this), Wed: delete-the-middle-node-of-a-linked-list (discussed in CS2040S Lec04b), Thu: removing-stars-from-a-string (discussed in CS2040S Lec04b), Fri: add-two-numbers (the second LeetCode problem). |
Prof Halim was at Baku, Azerbaijan, for the 2025 ICPC World Finals. Lec04a was delivered by Chow Yuan Bin. Lec04b was delivered by Lew Choon Hean. 04a. List ADT: SLL/Stack/Queue/DLL/Deque (all slides) 1. Introducing List ADT, (resizeable) array versus Singly Linked List (SLL) way 2. Introducing Stack/Queue ADT 3. Wrapping up with DLL and Deque ADT Linked List Online Quiz (easy) White-box: SLLDemo.cpp | py | java implementation Black-box: Stack, but using Java ArrayList implementation versus Java LinkedList and Stack classes Fixed-size array, circular array version, versus Java Queue and Deque interfaces Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: N/A 04b. List Extras Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: delete-the-middle-node-of-a-linked-list (two passes versus two pointers strategies) removing-stars-from-a-string (bracket matching variant) |
PS2 (2%) Due: Sat, 06 Sep 25, 07.59am PS3: List+PQ Problems Out: Sat, 06 Sep 25, 08.00am |
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05, 08-12 Sep |
T03+L03: tut03.pdf Linked List, mini experiment, Applications: Reversing/Sorting a List, Application: Stack-related, PS2 Debrief (short), Java LinkedList/Stack/Queue/Deque, VA OQ demo (list), Hands-on, a list application, PS3 Discussion (algorithmic) Extra Exercises: Mon: merge-two-sorted-lists (merge of Merge Sort; on two SLLs), Tue: reverse-linked-list (there are several ways to do this), Wed: kth-largest-element-in-an-array (discussed in Lec05a), Thu: smallest-number-in-infinite-set (discussed in CS2040S Lec05b), Fri: remove-stones-to-minimize-the-total (max PQ simulation). |
05a. Priority Queue (PQ) ADT: Binary Heap (Slide 1 to 8-2) 1. Introducing PQ ADT 2. Introducing basic Binary Heap structure and its Insert+ExtractMax operations 3. Discussing CreateHeap (two versions) and HeapSort operations Binary Heap Online Quiz (easy) White-box: BinaryHeapDemo.cpp | py | java Black-box: priority_queue.cpp | py | java Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: kth-largest-element-in-an-array (O(n log k) version) Last 15m of 05a: VisuAlgo Online Quiz 1 (4%) Bring your own laptop that can run at least 15 minutes on battery power. (we do not provide any spare laptop). Material: /array (1Q + 2 'new'), /sorting (3 Qs), /list (3 Qs), and 3 'new' questions especially on asymptotics. 05b. PQ Extras (until end) 1. O(N) CreateHeap analysis and O(N+K log N) PartialSort 2. Discussing UpdateKey(i, newv) and Delete(i) operations Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: smallest-number-in-infinite-set (min PQ simulation; with lazy deletion) |
PS3, continued |
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06, 15-19 Sep |
T04+L04: tut04.pdf Binary Heap, Max-Min conversion, Additional ADT PQ Operations, Java PriorityQueue, VA OQ demo (heap), Hands-on, a problem involving PQ, PS3 last Discussion (algorithmic) Extra exercises: Mon: total-cost-to-hire-k-workers (min PQ simulation), Tue: design-hashmap (try adapting HashTableDemo (Lec06a) to solve this), Wed: longest-consecutive-sequence (discussed in Lec06a), Thu: group-anagrams (discussed in CS2040S Lec06b), Fri: unique-number-of-occurrences (set application). |
06a. Table ADT part 1: Hash Table (slide 1 to 10-5) 1. Table ADT, DAT, Basic Hashing; Easiest Collision Resolution (CR): CA (SC) HashTableDemo.cpp | py | java (all use SC) 2. More CR Techniques: OA (LP, QP, DH); Comparing CA: SC with OA: DH Hash Table Online Quiz (easy; a bit too tedious on medium/hard settings) 3. Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: design-hashmap (use HashTableDemo) longest-consecutive-sequence (use set to help checks) 06b. Hash Table Extras (until end) Other technicalities of Hash Table Java HashSet/HashMap/Hashtable classes See unordered_map_unordered_set.cpp | py | java at GitHub repo of CPbook website Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: group-anagrams (sort and hash) |
PS3 (2%) Due: Sat, 20 Sep 25, 07.59am PS4: Hash Table Problems Out: Sat, 20 Sep 25, 08.00am |
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Recess Week, 20-28 Sep 2025 You can take a break this week :) |
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07, 29 Sep-03 Oct |
T05+L05: tut05.pdf [Special] Past midterm paper(s) discussions Extra exercises: Mon: find-k-pairs-with-smallest-sums (discussed in Lab05), Tue: min-stack (CS2040S midterm S1 AY23/24, Part B), Wed: last-stone-weight (IT5003 Final S2 AY24/25, but n *= 10000), Thu: find-the-difference-of-two-arrays (use set), Fri: making-a-large-island ( |
Midterm Test (10%) Venue: MPSH5 Date and Time: Wed, 01 Oct 25 (wk7), 10:15-11:25am (70 mins) Hall entry time earliest by 09:45am Hall exit time latest by 11:55am Open book Three essay questions (with partial marks scheme) and one special box Material: Up to PQ (L05ab on Week 05 + T05+L05 on Week 07), NO Hash Table yet A few special needs students do the test at SR@LT19 O(1) SEATING PLAN: sorted names -> Midterm Test Past Papers (recent 3 AYs only): AY 2023/24: S1-midterm.pdf, [I didn't teach CS2040S in S2], AY 2024/25: S1-midterm.pdf, [I didn't teach CS2040S in S2], AY 2025/26: S1-midterm.pdf, [I will teach CS2040C in S2]. 07b. Union-Find Disjoint Sets (all slides) Quick Recap with VisuAlgo See unionfind_ds.cpp | py | java at GitHub repo of CPbook website Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: tildes (basic UFDS task) PS: UFDS is reused in Connected Component (CC) and MST topics |
PS4, continued |
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08, 06-10 Oct |
T06+L06: tut06.pdf Table ADT 1 - unordered, Basic hashing concepts, Hash Table issues, Java HashSet/HashMap, PS3 Debrief (short), Only for CS2040S: UFDS review, VA OQ demo (hashtable,ufds), Hands-on, a hash table application PS4 Discussion (algorithmic) Extra exercises: Mon: determine-if-two-strings-are-close (discussed in Lab06), Tue: search-in-a-binary-search-tree (discussed in Lec08a), Wed: delete-node-in-a-bst (discussed in Lec08a), Thu: minimum-absolute-difference-in-bst (discussed in Lec08b), Fri: validate-binary-search-tree (recursive check). |
08a. Table ADT part 2: BST (Slide 1 to 12-1) 1. BST concepts, BST operations, and the multiset idea BST (only) Online Quiz (medium) BSTDemo.cpp | py | java 2. Randomly built BST and a preview of balanced BST, e.g., AVL Tree 3. Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: search-in-a-binary-search-tree (implement what we discuss today) delete-node-in-a-bst (implement the three cases) 08b. Balanced BST and Applications (until end) QnA about AVL Tree concepts A short discussion of Select and Rank operations BST+AVL Online Quiz (hard; need to clear pre-req) AVL.cpp | (no py yet) | java Java TreeSet/TreeMap classes See map_set.cpp | (no built-in py) | java at GitHub repo of CPbook website Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: minimum-absolute-difference-in-bst (use the correct tree traversal) |
PS4 (2%) Due: Sat, 11 Oct 25, 07.59am PS5: Combo DS Problems Out: Sat, 11 Oct 25, 08.00am |
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09, 13-17 Oct |
T07+L07: tut07.pdf Table ADT 2 - ordered, (balanced) BST advanced stuffs: Select and Rank, PQ ADT alternative implementation, Comparison with Table ADT 1: unordered vs ordered, Java TreeSet/TreeMap, PS4 Debrief (short), VA OQ demo (bst or avl (need to clear pre-req)) Hands-on, a tree-related task, PS5 Discussion (algorithmic) Extra exercises: Mon: construct-binary-tree-from-preorder-and-inorder-traversal (discussed in Lab07), Tue: maximal-network-rank (simple graph DS task), Wed: destination-city (discussed in Lec09a), Thu: keys-and-room (discussed in Lec09b), Fri: reorder-routes-to-make-all-paths-lead-to-the-city-zero (custom traversal). |
09a. Graph DS (all slides) + DFS Traversal (Slide 1 to 5-8) 1. Concept checks: Graph DS Online Quiz (medium), Implementations of graph DS and its applications No built-in C++ STL container | Python standard library | Java API, See graph_ds.cpp | py | java at GitHub repo of CPbook website, 2. Early discussion of the basic forms of Graph Traversal algorithms: DFS first See dfs_cc.cpp | py | java 3. Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: destination-city (degree checks) Last 15m of 09a: VisuAlgo Online Quiz 2 (4%) Material: /heap (3 Qs), /hashtable (3 Qs), /ufds (3 Qs), /bst (3 Qs) but NO new question this time... 09b. Graph Traversal Applications (Slide 7-3 to 7-8) Finding Connected Components Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: weakvertices (AM demo) keys-and-room (visitation check from 0) |
PS5, continued |
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10, 20-24 Oct |
As Mon, 20 Oct 2025 is Deepavali PH and Tue, 21 Oct 2025 is NUS well-being day We move our last three downwards Extra exercises: Mon: maximum-depth-of-binary-tree (recursive check; precursor of DFS), Tue: count-good-nodes-in-binary-tree (modified preorder; precursor of DFS), Wed: number-of-provinces (discussed in Lec10a), Thu: course-schedule (discussed in Lec10b), Fri: binary-tree-right-side-view (BFS on a binary tree). |
10a. Graph Traversal Applications (Slide 6 to 7-12) 1. Review DFS and introducing BFS 2. Focus on a few more basic DFS/BFS applications (we skip slide 8-11, out of CS2040/C/S and IT5003 scope) DFS/BFS Online Quiz (medium) No built-in C++ STL algorithm | Python standard library | Java API, See UVa00469.cpp | py | java, and bfs.cpp | bfs.py | java at GitHub repo of CPbook website, 3. Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: number-of-provinces (AM; count #CC; DFS or BFS way) 10b. Graph Traversal Extras Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: course-schedule (check if the graph is acylic) builddeps (AL of Strings + postorder DFS toposort demo) NUS Online Teaching Feedback opens this Fri But this timing is too early for our course... You can wait until you have completed the course |
PS5, continued |
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11, 27-31 Oct |
T08+L08: tut08.pdf Graph DS Review, Some Graph Properties Discussion, Graph DS Conversion Exercise, DFS/BFS Review, Custom graph DS implementation review, VA OQ demo (graphds,dfsbfs), Hands-on, a Graph-related task, PS5 Discussion (algorithmic) Extra exercises: Mon: course-schedule-ii (discussed in Lab08), Tue: rotting-oranges (discussed in Lec11a), Wed: network-delay-time (discussed in Lec11a), Thu: snakes-and-ladders (discussed in Lec11b), Fri: nearest-exit-from-entrance-in-maze (BFS on grid). |
11a. SSSP Problem (all slides) 1. Review of basic SSSP problem + O(VE) / O(kE) Bellman-Ford algorithm 2. QnA on BFS algorithm for unweighted SSSP QnA on Dijkstra's algorithm (original Dijkstra's first; but focus on modified Dijkstra's for IT5003) See dijkstra.cpp | py | java at GitHub repo of CPbook website Quick discussion of SSSP on Tree and on DAG SSSP Online Quiz (medium) 3. Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: rotting-oranges (SSSP; implicit unweighted grid graph; BFS) network-delay-time (basic Dijkstra's) 11b. SSSP Extras Now CS2040S side discuss Modified Dijkstra's Other special cases of SSSP problem Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: snakes-and-ladders (SSSP; implicit unweighted grid graph; BFS; harder) |
PS5 (2%) Due: Sat, 01 Nov 25, 07.59am PS6: Graph(-Related) Problems Out: Sat, 01 Nov 25, 08.00am |
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12, 03-07 Nov |
T09+L09: tut09.pdf DFS/BFS advanced stuffs: Cycle Detection, Toposort++, Floodfill/CC, Bipartite Graph Checker Modeling exercise, PS5 Debrief (short), VA OQ demo (dfsbfs,sssp), Hands-on, an unweighted SSSP task, PS6 Discussion (algorithmic) Extra exercises: Mon: minimum-genetic-mutation (discussed in Lab09), Tue: check-knight-tour-configuration (classic BFS), Wed: min-cost-to-connect-all-points (discussed in Lec12a), Thu: minimum-time-to-visit-disappearing-nodes (discussed in Lec12b), Fri: ugly-number-ii (Min Priority Queue + Hash Table Review). |
12a. MST Problem (all slides) 1. Review of basic MST problem 2. QnA on Kruskal's and Prim's algorithms Mix and Match of various data structures/algorithms covered so far 3. Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: min-cost-to-connect-all-points (basic MST) Onsite class photo as momento Last 15m of 12a: VisuAlgo Online Quiz 3 (4%) Material: /graphds (4 Qs), /dfsbfs (3 Qs), /sssp (2 Qs), and 3 'new' questions (inclusive of 2 specifically unweighted SSSP). 12b. MST+another SSSP Extras Other MST Variants Kattis/LeetCode problem(s) discussed today: minimum-time-to-visit-disappearing-nodes (SSSP on weighted graph; with a small twist) |
PS6, continued |
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13, 10-14 Nov |
T10+L10: tut10.pdf BFS/Dijkstra's review Only for CS2040S: MST review, Modeling exercises (continued), VA OQ demo (sssp), Hands-on, an SSSP task, PS6 Discussion (algorithmic) Extra exercises: Mon: map-sum-pairs (Hash Table Review), Tue: flatten-binary-tree-to-linked-list (Skewed Right BST (LL) Review), Wed: minimum-number-of-vertices-to-reach-all-nodes (Graph DS and Kahn's Algorithm Review), Thu: number-of-islands (Graph Traversal (on Grid) Review), Fri: map-of-highest-peak ((unweighted) SSSP Review). Tut+Lab participation marks given (5%) |
13a. No lecture, make-up time window Make-up for VA OQ 1 (10 pax), 9.45-10.00am Make-up for VA OQ 2 (7 pax; has 2 overlap with VA OQ 1) 10.00-10.15am Make-up for Midterm (6 pax; has 3 overlap with VA OQ 1+2) 10.15-11.25am Make-up for VA OQ 3 (? pax) 10.15-10.30am (if NO overlap with above) 11.25-11.40am (otherwise) (other details TBC) 13b. The Last Lecture Course wrap-up et al: Undoing all the illegal Java coding techniques, Semester summary via, Review of what can be done better for future iterations, Advertisement of future (algorithm) courses: CS3230 (S1 or S2) Advertisement for part-time TA jobs (A-/A/A+ only), Ending: a few Final Assessment Tips. |
PS6 (2%) Due: Sat, 15 Nov 25, 07.59am |
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Study Week, 15-21 Nov 2025 Final Assessment Discussions at Class Discord Final Assessment Past Papers (recent 3 AYs only, note the transition from CS2040C/C++ to CS2040S/Java): AY 2022/23: S1-final.pdf, [I didn't teach CS2040C in S2], AY 2023/24: S1-final.pdf, [I didn't teach CS2040S in S2], AY 2024/25: S1-final.pdf, [I didn't teach CS2040S in S2], AY 2025/26: S1-final.pdf (will be our paper), [I will teach CS2040C in S2]. NUS Online Teaching Feedback System closes on Friday of Study Week |
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Final Assessment (60%) Date and Time: Thu, 27 Nov 2025, 01.00-03.00pm Venue: MPSH5 (invigilators: Prof Halim, 3 TAs: Yuan Bin, Hian Wee, Jin Pei) + COM3-01-23 (a few special needs + TA: Desmond) Open book No electronic device except one non-programmable calculator 6x1 = 6 marks are MCQs (very tricky; do not start from MCQ section; but do not leave any MCQ blank either) Then 6 application questions (essays) The first essay question will be very trivial, worth "free" 9 marks; do this one first and if scored (expected ≤ 5 minutes for A/A+ students), will give most students 9% worth of points, so anyone with CA marks ≥ 31.0/40.0 can pass this course a few minutes after final assessment starts Then there will be four medium tasks of mostly second half topics, worth 4x10 = 40 marks The last essay question will be very hard and worth the last 5* marks (VERY STRICT marking scheme: free 0.5 mark if left blank, 0 if wrong) |
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