Notes I've taken for classes at Harvard College during lecture (not including Section, Homework, and Exam materials).

Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing strategic situations. It deals with situations in which multiple people must make interdependent decisions, such as chess, poker, bargaining, oligopoly pricing, and warfare. Topics include strategic-form and extensive-form games, rationalizability, Nash equilibrium, and subgame-perfect equilibrium. We will study applications such as long-term cooperation, auctions, mechanism design, and division of treasure between pirates.

Design and analysis of efficient algorithms and data structures. Algorithm design methods, graph algorithms, approximation algorithms, and randomized algorithms are covered.

Fundamentals of computer systems programming, machine organization, and performance tuning. This course provides a solid background in systems programming and a deep understanding of low-level machine organization and design. Topics include C and assembly language programming, program optimization, memory hierarchy and caching, virtual memory and dynamic memory management, concurrency, threads, and synchronization.

Computation occurs over a variety of substrates including silicon, neurons, DNA, the stock market, bee colonies and many others. In this course we will study the fundamental capabilities and limitations of computation, including the phenomenon of universality and the duality of code and data. Some of the questions we will touch upon include: Are there functions that cannot be computed? Are there true mathematical statements that can't be proven? Are there encryption schemes that can't be broken? Is randomness ever useful for computing? Can we use the quirks of quantum mechanics to speed up computation?

An introduction to the ways in which the brain controls mental activities. The course covers the cells and signals that process and transmit information, and the ways in which neurons form circuits that change with experience. Topics include the neurobiology of perception, learning, memory, emotion, and neurologic disorders. This year we are combining interactive, didactic videos with “live” Friday sessions, group projects, and small discussion sections.