Week 1 of algorithms

I have just finished the first week of the coursera course Algorithms, Part I.

We learned about the union find algorithm and how to do some basic analysis of algorithms. I enjoyed the presentation of the union find algorithm (from an initailly naive implementation to a more robust final solution). The material on analyzing an algorithm is of course important, but a little drier and less fun for me.

The quizzes were helpful in forcing me to work through the gritty details of the lectures again. It often took me about 3 tries for each quiz before I got a perfect score. I think each failed attempt forced me to really think about the material.

I didn't really enjoy the programming assignment this week. Setting up the IDE was a chore. The assignment wasn't really about algorithms. It was more about using an API than understanding algorithms.

One of my worries before starting the course was whether I'd have enough time to do all the work. After one week, I'm still worried. I finished all of the work for this week before the next lecutre comes out tomorrow, but it was close. I didn't have much time to review the optional job interview questions. If the material gets more challenging, I may run out of time. To give myself some more leeway, I think I'll have to cover more material on the weekend.

Back to School

I have just started the coursera course Algorithms Part 1.

I half-heartedly tried out the course before. I listened to some of the lectures, I glanced through some of the exercises and programming assignments, and I may have tried to do some quickly (using Python instead of Java). But this time, I am going to give it a good effort and do all of the assignments and try to really complete and pass the course.

On Friday, the course began, and I started watching the videos. After the introduction video, I found it easier to just read the lecture notes and the slides. It was quieter and I felt myself concentrating a little bit more. As things get a bit more complex, I may watch the video, especially when there are demos that don't animate in the slides.

By Saturday, I finished the first round of lectures, and I began looking at the programming assignment. Since it's the first assignment, I've been spending a lot of time getting my environment set up. I tried the recommended IDE called Dr Java, but it felt a bit unpolished. I decided to use Eclipse, which I had to re-install. Eclipse is not as light-weight, but I think it makes things a little easier to do, especially since I am a novice Java programmer.

It's a bit annoying getting all of this started. I wish they had set up an initial pre-class assignment before. Before the class started, I could have tried to set things up, and we could have had a simple HelloWorld style project where I could iron out the process of creating files and submitting them. Oh well, once I get this working right, hopefully it won't be so bad in subsequent weeks.

Ok, time for breakfast, and then I will go ahead and give the first week's programming assignment a try.