CS409
Advanced Algorithms and Data Structures
Faculty Profiles
Kamil Debowski
Competitive Programming Teacher
Yegor Gorbachev
PhD Student at ETH Zürich
Course length
Duration
Total hours
Credits
Language
Course type
Fee for single course
Fee for degree students
Skills you’ll learn
Overview
This course focuses on key and in-depth algorithms and data structures that form a modern computer specialist’s toolkit. The computational complexity of algorithms and their comparative analysis will also be discussed. Students will be extensively trained in implementing data structures and algorithms on many problems reducible to the discussed data structures and techniques. Programmes will be tested against carefully prepared test cases using an automated testing system.
Learning highlights
- Get acquainted with in-depth algorithms and data structures.
- To some extent, be able to apply in-depth algorithms and data structures to solve new problems that may arise in various applications.
- Gain practice in problem-solving and programming on the topics of the discussed algorithms data structures.
Course outline
15 classes
Session 1
Introductory contest, solution discussion
Session 2
Heaps and binary search trees: binary heap, heap sort, binomial heap, treap.
Session 3
Segment trees and persistent data structures: range minimum/sum queries, lazy updates, persistent stack, persistent segment tree, persistent array.
Session 4
String algorithms: Knuth–Morris–Pratt algorithm, prefix-function, Z-function, Manacher’s algorithm.
Session 5
Practice day. Help and advice in solving practical problems.
Session 6
Graphs and related definitions. Adjacency matrix and adjacency lists. Depth-first search and its properties. Edges classification. Bridges, articulation points. Strongly connected components. Tarjan's graph algorithms.
Session 7
Shortest paths. Breadth-first search. Its properties. State graphs. Breadth-first search on 0-1 graphs. Map of shortest paths. Related problems.
Session 8
Practice day. Help and advice in solving practical problems.
Session 9
Single-source shortest path problem. Non-negative weights. Dijkstra's algorithm. Negative weights. Bellman-Ford algorithm. SPFA. Negative Cycle Detection. All-pairs shortest path problem. Floyd–Warshall algorithm. Johnson's algorithm.
Session 10
Practice day. Help and advice in solving practical problems.
Session 11
Minimum spanning trees. Tarjan's criterion. Safe Edge Theorem. Prim's algorithm. Union-Find data structure, applications. Kruskal's algorithm.
Session 12
Bipartite graphs. Problems: maximum matching, minimum edge cover, maximum independent vertex set, minimum vertex cover. König’s Theorem. Berge's lemma. Kuhn’s algorithm and applications.
Session 13
Practice day. Help and advice in solving practical problems.
Session 14
2-SAT, 3-SAT. Randomized optimisation algorithms. TSP approximation.
Session 15
Practice day. Help and advice in solving practical problems.
Prerequisites
A firm grasp of one programming language and a background in discrete mathematics are necessary prerequisites to this course. Examples will be given mainly in C++ and Python.
Methodology
Programming assignments.
Lectures.
Paper and oral exam.
Grading
Awards
- Gold Medal
ICPC World Finals 2024 (Coach)
- Gold Medal
Coach of IOI 2021
Kamil Debowski, or “Errichto”, is a competitive programmer and a teacher. He participated in math contests through school, then switched to programming and became a finalist of the biggest international contests. He is the author of 300+ problems (Codeforces, Topcoder, Codechef, etc.) and reached the highest possible titles: Codeforces "Legendary Grandmaster" and Topcoder "Target".
Since 2018, Kamil is a full-time teacher: CP camps, high school classes, private coaching, video tutorials. His algorithmic Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/errichto) has over 250,000 subscribers and 12 million views. He also live-streams on Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/errichto) and is a commentator of events like Topcoder Open and ICPC regionals.
See full profileYegor is a PhD student in theoretical computer science at ETH Zürich. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Saint Petersburg State University in 2022 and his Master’s degree from Saarland University in 2025. His research interests are in fine-grained complexity and algorithm design, with a focus on developing optimal algorithms and proving conditional lower bounds under standard complexity assumptions.
Before and during his university studies, he was active in mathematics and competitive programming competitions reaching the "Legendary Grandmaster" title on Codeforces. He is also the creator of a competitive programming YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/peltorator). Yegor has extensive teaching experience, including teaching at training camps as well as high school and university courses.
See full profileApply for this course
Advanced Algorithms and Data Structures
by Kamil Debowski, Yegor Gorbachev
Total hours
45 Hours
Dates
Mar 16 - Apr 03, 2026
Fee for single course
€1500
Fee for degree students
€750
How to secure your spot
Complete the form below to kickstart your application
Schedule your Harbour.Space interview
If successful, get ready to join us on campus
FAQ
Will I receive a certificate after completion?
Yes. Upon completion of the course, you will receive a certificate signed by the director of the program your course belonged to.
Do I need a visa?
This depends on your case. Please check with the Spanish or Thai consulate in your country of residence about visa requirements. We will do our part to provide you with the necessary documents, such as the Certificate of Enrollment.
Can I get a discount?
Yes. The easiest way to enroll in a course at a discounted price is to register for multiple courses. Registering for multiple courses will reduce the cost per individual course. Please ask the Admissions Office for more information about the other kinds of discounts we offer and what you can do to receive one.