Lecture 12: Search Algorithms

In this session, we introduce the idea of search. We've designed systems to tackle static problems and modeled the idea of uncertainty, but we still haven't developed a way to approach that uncertainty and engage in decision-making that we can codify into our systems. We can tackle uncertainty through search; if we know the domain of possible solutions to a problem, and know the steps to get from one part of the domain to the other, then we can search the domain until we reach the solution. The overview handout provides a more detailed introduction, including the big ideas of the session, key vocabulary, what you should understand (theory) and be able to do (practice) after completing this session, and additional resources.