This course is intended to be the last mandatory course in Graduate Certificate in Data-Driven Decision Making (DDDM). Some students may take in in parallel with CCCS 650 or even CCCS 640, which is fine. To make the most of the combination of those three courses that are all mandatory in DDDM, it is best to either follow the sequence in increasing numerical order or by taking the courses simultaneously. We chose not to force a pre-requisite sequence so that students from diverse backgrounds can tailor the experience in a flexible manner, but we do strongly recommend the proposed order of this course being the last, CCCS 640 the first, and CCCS 650 the middle, should a student prefer to study one course at a time.
However, if you skipped 640 or 650, you should manage here just the same. Just please be understanding with your classmates have had more exposure to the tools and concepts that you encounter in the this courses. They may sometimes bring up details on things yet unfamiliar to you; you are encouraged to make ample use of asynchronous learning materials to stay comfortable.
The first module expands upon the concept of evolutionary algorithms discussed at the end of CCCS 630, using the same problem (TSP) as a case study. If you skipped DACS (since you already had similar knowledge) and started at DDDM, you might benefit from browsing one or more of the following textbooks before attending the first class: