Algorithms and Data Structures, Academic Year 2016/2017

International Bologna Master in Bioinformatics

Luciano Bononi

| Reception hours for students | Classes Schedule | Course Contents | Exams | Course Material | FAQs |

Classes schedule Algorithms and Data Structures 2016-2017

The classes schedule can be found at the following address Bioinformatics Portal and in this page (see below). The planned calendar for classes is the following: (starting on Monday March 13, 2017)

Monday, 14.00 - 18.00, Bioinformatics Lab,

Wednesday, 14.00 - 18.00, Bioinformatics Lab


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Course Contents and Aims

The aim of the course is to provide students with basic knowledge about the design, implementation and analysis of correct and efficient algorithms and data structures supporting the modeling and analysis of complex systems.
Specifically, the course will introduce to basic data structure models and design concepts, and to the relationship with the design of scalable and efficient algorithms able to exploit the opportunely defined data structures.
The aim is to introduce the students to the common issues, techniques, skills and methodologies allowing for the realization of complex computation platforms for massive and complex data structures, under the requirements of a reduced space (memory) and time (computation) complexity viewpoint. The exploration of parallel/distributed computation and related bottlenecks (communication and synchronization) will be introduced.
At the end of the course, the students will have basic knowledge on algorithms and data structures. In particular, students will be able to:

  • design correct and efficient algorithm for common computational tasks

  • analyze existing algorithms and data structures, and possibly optimize the design

  • design and analyze new algorithms and data structures for specific tasks and computation architectures.

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Exams and procedures

The exams will be organized in different sessions at the end of the scheduled classes. The exam will consist of a written/practical exercise and an oral set of questions. More details will be provided during the classes (example of exam exercises and questions, provide as homeworks.

Remember to bring your valid documents with photo for identification during the exams.

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Course Material

This section of the webpgae will contain the pdf version of the presentation slides to be used during the classes. The slides are not self-contained, and they are not meant to substitute the participation to classes. They will be complemented with additional material (links, external references, homeworks) during the classes.

Slides' Collection 1 (pdf, 1 MB)

Slides' Collection 2 (pdf, 466 KB)

Slides' Collection 3 (pdf, 970 KB)

Slides' Collection 4 (pdf, 209 KB)

Slides' Collection 5 (pdf, 430 KB)

Slides' Collection 6 (2x, pdf, 552 KB)

Slides' Collection 7 (2x, pdf, 552 KB)


This page will contain the answers to Frequently Asked Questions that I receive via e-mail. Try to get your answers in this page before to send me emails with information requests. (Frequently Asked Questions, FAQs).

Some useful readings and books (not necessarily to be purchased).

  • Alfred V. Aho, Jeffrey D. Ullman, John E. Hopcroft, Data Structures and Algorithms, Addison Wesley, 1983.

  • Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, Clifford Stein, Introduction to Algorithms, McGraw-Hill, 2001.

  • Donald E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Volumes 1-3, Addison-Wesley Professional, 1998.

  • S.B. Kishor, Data Structures, Edition 3, Das Ganu Prakashan, Nagpur, 2008.

  • Further information, books, and material will be provided as a Web reference.

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