OMSCS Course Guide: Graduate Algorithms
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- In this video I give you a brief overview of what's covered in Graduate Algorithms and some tips on how to successfully make it through the course!
Table of Contents:
Introduction: 00:00 - 00:17
Course Background: 00:18 - 02:12
Course Material Overview: 02:13 - 02:43
Problem Structures: 02:44 - 05:02
Tips to be Successful: 05:03 - 09:53
Conclusion: 09:53 - 10:07
Sample Dynamic Programming Answer (look at problem 6.3 in the link): users.eecs.northwestern.edu/~d...
Sample NP Reductions (answers to DPV NP problems): cseweb.ucsd.edu/classes/sp08/...
Course Textbook "DPV": www.google.com/books/edition/... 
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Thank you for these videos. Starting the program this fall. Your videos give me hope and confidence moving forward.
Thank you soo much for these videos. Really helpful. These will really help me if I get in.
Thanks! I'm glad you like them. Good luck!
Im so glad my undergrad program was difficult...we learned a lot of this stuff. I just need to brush up on some stuff.
I have a question regarding the omscs midterm or final exams. I work for a company in FL which limits my time during office hours. I think this will interfere a lot for taking exams. Are those based on scheduling on particular time or is it like due deadline(like they may give you a week to finish the exam)
That sample problem 6.3 doesn’t look right. It shows a comparison with ‘temp’ and then assigns to temp and does nothing with it. So the if profit[i] < temp assign to temp makes no sense. Any linter would fail that as an unused variable. Did I miss something? I’ll be taking this course so this makes me nervous.
thanks for your review, moss. how much time do you estimate you studied per week? what was the hardest topic to grasp in graduate algorithms?
They covered the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm (which was tested only at a high-level on the exams when I took the class) and that was probably the hardest thing for me to grasp besides Dynamic Programming as I did not have the math background to sufficiently understand it. I probably averaged 15 - 20 hours per week studying.
Hello thank you so much for the video. I just got accepted to omscs and I really needed this to decide which ones to take. I have one question though!! Is there a course that involves data structure?? Do you think this class will help with interview problems??
Hello! There is no class in the omscs program that I'm aware of that is dedicated to data structures. Having said that almost every class expects you to have knowledge around basic data structures and sometimes you're introduced to new data structures that you might not have encountered before in some of these classes. Graduate algorithms alone won't help you pass interviews but I think it definitely improves your problem solving skills with algorithms so pairing graduate algorithms with leet code is probably ideal. congrats on being accepted!
What do you recommend to prepare for this course and how did you catch up with the math seen in the practice problems?
Hi Erick. People who have taken the course sometimes joke that the best preparation for Graduate Algorithms is to take Graduate Algorithms, and there is some truth to that statement because of the format of the exams, homework, and problem structure. If you want to prepare, I would say to start doing practice problems from the Algorithms book, commonly referred to as "DPV". Practicing these problems will get you familiar with how they expect you to answer questions on the exams and homeworks. And while preparing, I would focus on Dynamic Programming, since that is the first topic of the course and is often the most challenging for people in the course.
Regarding the math, I don't consider the math in Graduate Algorithms very difficult to get up to speed with, since most of it is Discrete Math. Anything that you don't understand can be pretty easily supplemented with online research. There are only a couple of topics in GA that I would consider slightly more advanced, such as Fast Fourier Transform, and the RSA algorithm. Linear Programming was also slightly challenging for me but the class doesn't heavily focus on that topic. I hope this helps.
I would say discrete math. I am taking discrete math currently and I am having difficulty wrapping my mind around a lot of the subjects.
So you really got through this course without algorithm experience? I've been admitted to OMSCS for this upcoming August, despite only having 2 intro to programming classes. I literally meet no other pre-reqs other than the fact that I have an intro to Java class and an intro to computing systems and software course from my undergrad. I work as a software engineer for a living, but I rarely actually need to do anything algorithmic. My highest math in undergrad is college algebra and it was almost 11 years ago. I'm nervous, but I've learned "how to learn" over the years, and hopefully, my aggressive ambition makes up for my lack of formal academics. Thanks again for the vdeos.
I agree if you have the willingness to put in the work towards learning these topics you can get through classes like Intro To Graduate Algorithms. I didn't have any formal algorithm experience prior to taking the course. It's challenging but if you stay on top of studying it's doable for most folks I think.
I've recently withdrawn from HPCA due to my bad time management in the midterm. Based on your remarks on this course, would you say graduate algorithms' exam is more stressful than HPCA? (if you've taken HPCA, of course.)
Hi Shinji! I haven't taken HPCA, so I'm not really sure if it would be. If you look at the omscentral website, though, the difficulty of GA is rated higher than HPCA by a good amount.
Can you provide tips on how to succeed in Advanced Operating Systems
Hi Vivek! I'll be honest, it's been quite some time since I took AOS, so please excuse me for not being detailed in my response. AOS was a challenging course, both in terms of difficulty and in workload. The best advice I can give for this course is if you haven't taken Graduate Intro to Operating Systems yet, I would take that prior to taking Adv OS. If you have and you're now taking Adv OS, I would advise starting the projects literally the day they are released. The projects are very large, and it can take a couple days just getting familiar with the code base that they give you and what they want you to accomplish. If you start working on the projects immediately, and consistently work on them everyday, even if it's only for an hour, I think this will set you up for success in the course. In general, you have to put in quite a few hours into AOS to be successful.
Do you recommend taking this course as the first-ever course of our OMSCS degree?
Hi Bowen! This is actually almost impossible to do, as the school administration gives registration priority for Graduate Algorithms to those who are close to graduation (typically GA is their last course). By the time first registration wave has completed, there's is typically a very long waitlist to get into GA. I've heard of some students getting into maybe their 3rd course, I but I don't think I've heard of a student taking GA as their first course. If you familiar with Data Structures and Algorithms from prior courses or maybe an undergraduate, then taking GA early on in the OMSCS program might actually be a good thing. There's a lot of concepts that you learn in GA that apply to other courses that you take in the program. Having said that, it's one of the most challenging courses in the program, so it could also be very overwhelming for a new student. I hope this information helped!
@@tech_with_moss Thank you so much! I checked your linked solution and yea it looks scary :/ What do you think makes a good first course to take?
No problem! I would take a look at the course reviews here omscentral.com/. When you look at the list of courses, sort the list first by a difficulty, and then look for low difficulty courses with a high "Rating". Those low difficulty course with high ratings are typically going to be great first classes in the OMSCS program.
Would you say it’s near impossible to get a 4.0 gpa for OMSCS? I know it’s depending on the courses you take too so I guess if I took all of the courses you took. I have ~3.2 right now in CS for undergrad.
Hi Aashna. I would not say that it's near impossible to get a 4.0 in OMSCS. I have known multiple people who have gotten a 4.0. I think it's about what you prioritize when taking the program. If you prioritize getting a 4.0 in the program, you will take the appropriate actions to make getting a 4.0 more feasible. For instance, as you suggested, there are some courses where making an A is particularly difficult, such as Computational Photography, which has this "Above and Beyond" rule, where you can not make a an A on an assignment unless you've done essentially extra credit work expanding upon the assignment requirements. You'll also likely take one class at a time.
I would also take into consideration your responsibilities outside of the program when prioritizing a 4.0. If you have a full-time job and family, that can make getting a 4.0 much more difficult than say a single full-time student living at home.
Tech and Beyond with Moss Okay thank you! I am going to be working full-time, but not taking care of a family or anything, so I’ll try my very best. I’ll do one class at a time as you have suggested. Can I add you on LinkedIn?
Sure, you can add me!
Hey. I am from India. About to complete my graduation. And got an offer for job and will join after this Corona virus stuff ends. Planning to pursue omscs. I want to know about admission process I have GPA of 2.8 and will need to toefl test. As I checked on website so need to prepare for it. And really have a lot of question in mind. Will you please mentor me in my path to omscs. And after that.
Hi Mohit! I'm glad to hear that you're looking to pursue OMSCS! For the questions that you would have in mind, I would suggest asking them on the OMSCS Reddit community, which is found here: www.reddit.com/r/OMSCS/. It is a very active community supporting all things related to OMSCS, and faculty of the OMSCS program are also present on this subreddit answering questions. Best of luck!
IIIT D students here?