José Luis Balcázar

This course takes an in-depth look at the notion of algorithmic efficiency and presents several techniques for analysing and improving it. We introduce the main techniques for efficient algorithms design (greedy, divide-and-conquer, dynamic programming, backtracking, etc.), as well as a brief introduction to algorithmic intractability. More advanced data structures such as graphs, trees and "heaps", as well as key partner algorithms and some applications, are also introduced.

These two courses cover the basics of algorithms and data structures, with emphasis on fundamental algorithms and basic control structures and applications. We will focus mainly on the imperative paradigm and introduce object-oriented design. The main programming language will be Python, although we will also use C++ to discuss implementation aspects and efficiency.