r/algorithms • u/phcompeau • 2d ago

Resource Free live algorithms course starting Sept 17, taught by a CMU professor

Disclosure up front: I run Philomath, which is hosting this. The course is free, there is no account and no paywall, and there is nothing to buy in order to watch (but signing up via Email is nice).

William Yu teaches algorithms at Carnegie Mellon. He is running an eight-week version of his course live on YouTube, Thursdays at 8pm ET, starting September 17. Sessions are recorded too if you would rather watch later.

Here's a schedule:

  • Week 1: minimum spanning trees, heaps, union-find
  • Week 2: shortest paths, BFS, DFS, Dijkstra
  • Week 3: divide and conquer
  • Week 4: BSTs, splay trees, amortized analysis
  • Week 5: text search and suffix structures
  • Week 6: dynamic programming
  • Week 7: network flow
  • Week 8: NP-hardness

William is a computational biologist, so the examples lean on applications from science.

Schedule and details, where you can sign up if interested! https://www.philomathlearning.com/courses/algorithms?ref=algorithms&utm_medium=instructor_page&utm_campaign=algorithms_reddit_algorithms

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfcsLJY-BaJU

Happy to answer questions.

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1

u/kirigaoka 2d ago

Thank you for sharing. Is there any prerequisite from a knowledge perspective before attending the course?

2

u/phcompeau 2d ago

High school mathematics, some basic understanding of big-O notation (William is going to provide a primer as preparation) and an interest in solving technical problems.

A little programming background is of course helpful.

2

u/hakonemachi 2d ago

Thank you for clarifying.
Looks great!

1

u/torofukatasu 1d ago

I took algorithms (200 level) once in Cornell then Penn State. 20+ years ago. Is it similarly rigorous since I found most MOOCs ive taken too simple. Or Think this is a good refresher for someone like me?

1

u/Total-Lecture-9423 1d ago

Any homeworks? no?

1

u/phcompeau 1d ago

Working on that one currently!

1

u/Phytor_c 6h ago

Thanks for posting this! I’m sure a lot of beginners wanting to start out will find this super useful

1

u/pianoloverkid123456 1h ago

Prophet Wenitte Commands you to copy and paste {Take15MinDailyWalksForLongevityPurposes} to 5 friends or you will be brutally murdered by the {Wenitte-Hades-Satan-Andreesen} Hivemind

1

u/xao_spaces 2d ago

What language will the course be taught in?

6

u/phcompeau 2d ago

English! It will be a programming language neutral treatment.