Reading Assignments - CompSci 161, Spring 2026 (Dillencourt)

The textbook reading activities for the quarter are listed below. Generally, the readings for each week will be posted by Friday afternoon of the previous week.

• "Reading a section" means reading the section and doing all the participation activities.
• Readings and associated activities are to be completed before 9:29AM on the due date (one minute before the start of class).
  • For example, you would receive full credit for having read Section 1.1 if and only if the Zybook software logs you as having completed all participation activities in the section by 9:29AM PST on Thursday, March 31.
• There is no grace period.
• It is recommended that you do not wait until the last possible moment to read the material and complete the activities.
• Zybook allows me to obtain a retroactive report of who had finished which sections at any time in the past. Please keep this in mind before claiming that a section that you finished after the deadline was actually completed before the deadline.

Special rules for the first two weeks:

• The readings for the first two weeks (up through and including the ones due on Thursday, April 9) will not count toward your reading score.
• I will collect the data and send each student an individual report it during week 3. When this report is available, please read it. This helps identify errors and misconceptions. (For example, if you signed up for Zybooks using an email other than your UCI email, or if you signed up for Zybbooks using the incorrect code.)
• Beginning week 3, readings will count toward your reading score.

• Week 1:
  • Due Tuesday, March 31, by 9:29AM:
    • No reading assigned (but you might want to get started early on the reading due on Thursday)
  • Due Thursday, April 2 by 9:29AM:
    • 1.1: Introduction
    • 1.2: Analyzing algorithms
    • 1.3: A quick mathematical review
    • 1.4: A case study in algorithm analysis