======== Welcome! ======== I am glad you join this course about *Algorithms & Data Structures*. I am preparing this course as well as I can with the time, resources and energy I have, and I do hope you will find it relevant. Many thanks to the students who took this course in the past: Their feedback has been very valuable. Let me know what you think! Despite its official title, this course is first and foremost about *solving “programming” problems*. This is the most valuable tool a programmer has because it applies across technologies, languages and frameworks. The things I learned 15 years ago still apply to my daily engineering work. This is *rock-solid*. But it is also a competence that is *hard to get*. .. important:: Anyone can join and succeed in this course: There is **no** prerequisite. I will use some high-school maths (functions, sets, probabilities, summations, boolean logic), which I recall in a separate appendix. The plan is to explain everything we need as we go. This is **not** a maths class. What Can You Expect from Me? ---------------------------- I am here to help. Please ask. I will do my best to support you. I am there three times a week for all lectures and lab sessions. Feel free to come and ask questions. I am paid to answer you! .. note:: I am only an external resource in NTNU. I am a software engineer at `dipai.no `_ so I don't have an office in NTNU, where you can find me. Feel free to reach out by email; it works best for me: franck.chauvel@ntnu.no. Expect a reply in the next 12 hours. What Do I Expect from You? -------------------------- This course **is hard**---I cannot stress this enough. Do not wait the last moment to start preparing for the final examination. This course is an opportunity, and here is how I would make the most of it: - Attend the lecture physically. Even more, ask questions! Attending empowers you to ask questions and to stop me if I am unclear. Please do so: I am happy to adjust or answer to the best of my knowledge. - Attend the lab sessions and go through the exercises. In my experience, exercises (whether on paper or on computer) are the only thing that really grounds our understanding. - Go through the home examinations. I believe this is a good preparation to the final one and also a good way to see where we stand. - Reach out if you need any help. - Practice, practice, practice.