Introducing formal derivation into the design and analysis of algorithms
Haipeng Shi, Haihe Shi · 2009
The design and analysis of algorithms is one of the two essential cornerstone topics in computer science. However, some students think it hard to grasp and often learn by rote, thus they usually can't improve their ability of algorithm design and algorithm analysis. To address the problem, we advocate the incorporation of formal derivation into the design and analysis of algorithms. Formal algorithm derivation is valuable in revealing wonderful ideas behind algorithm, and ensuring resultant algorithm correctness. It would be helpful in showing where the algorithmic ideas come, thus enable the improvement of students' understanding and study. The detailed teaching design is presented in the paper.