CS 401: Syllabus

The class has no specific syllabus, in that it is not intended to convey specific material, but instead to cultivate methodology. The principal aim of the class is to familiarize everyone with the use of abstractions, particularly (i) how to abstract a problem from its (often messy) real-world description, (ii) how to manipulate abstractions, especially in relating one to another; and (iii) how to use abstractions to derive algorithms and proofs.

We will use problems from a variety of areas and abstractions into sets, graphs, and logic, to name a few. Whenever a new abstraction is used, it will be introduced, so that you need not worry about the level of prerequisites.