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252-0846-AAL 4 Credits MSC D-BAUG
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Computer Science II

Lecturers & Examiners: Dr. Felix Friedrich Wicker
Enrolment ONLY for MSc students with a decree declaring this course unit as an additional admission requirement. Any other students (e.g. incoming exchange students, doctoral students) CANNOT enrol for this course unit.
VVZ CR n/a

Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:34:50

Abstract

Together with the introductory course Informatics I this course provides the foundations of programming. This course particularly covers algorithms and data structures. Programming languages used in this course are Java and Python.

Objective

Basing on the knowledge covered by lecture Informatics I, the primary educational objectives of this course are constructive knowledge of data structures and algorithms. When successfully attended the course, students have a good command of the mechanisms to construct an object oriented program. They know the typically used control and data structures and understand how an algorithmic problem is mapped to a sufficiently efficient computer program. Secondary goals are an algorithmic computational thinking, undestanding the possibilities and limits of programming and to impart the way of thinking of a computer scientist.

Content

We discuss typical data structures and algorithms. More generally, formal thinking and the need for abstraction and importance of appropriate modeling capabilities will be motivated. Concrete topics are complexity of algorithms, divide and conquer-principles, recursion, sort- and search-algorithms, elementary dynamic data structures, algorithms on graphs. The concepts of the lectures will be motivated with applications. The programming languages used in the lectures and the practical exercises are Java and Python. For the exercises an online-compiler and online-submission system is used.

Resources

Lecture Notes

The slides are available for download on the course home page of the physical course 252-0846-00L.

Literature

T. Cormen, C. Leiserson, R. Rivest, C. Stein, Introduction to Algorithms , 3rd ed., MIT Press, 2009

Learning Materials (Links)

General Information

Language
English
Levels
MSC
Frequency
Semesterly recurring

Examination

Type
session examination
Mode
written 90 minutes
Aids
Sie dürfen maximal 4 A4-Blätter mit in die Prüfung nehmen. Inhaltliche und formale Anforderungen (Text, Bilder, ein-/doppelseitig, Ränder, Schriftgrösse, etc.) bestehen nicht. Elektronische Geräte bzw. digitale Unterlagen sind nicht erlaubt.You may take up to 4 A4 sheets into the exam. There are no constraints regarding content and layout (text, images, single/double page, margins, font size, etc.). Electronic devices and digital documents are not allowed.

Course Components

Type Title Time & Place Hours
revision course / private study Computer Science II
Self-study course. No presence required.
No time listed 120 h semesterly

Offered In