Simplifying Dynamic Programming

Dynamic Programming (DP) is one of the fundamental topics usually covered in the algorithms course. Nonetheless, it is a challenging subject for many computer science students. This paper presents work in progress for making dynamic programming easier for students. We propose four simple and interesting DP problems that students can learn early in the curriculum. One of these problems can be introduced as early as CS1. The other problems can be used in a CS2 course. We believe that this will make the subject of DP easier for many students when they encounter it later, in an algorithms course, and will result in more success and retention of CS students.