String algorithms are a traditional area of study in Computer Science. In  recent years their importance has grown dramatically with the huge increase  of electronically stored text and of molecular sequence data produced by various genome projects. Other applications include: recovering from typing or spelling errors in  information retrieval, from sequence alterations or measurement errors in computational biology, or from transmission errors in signal processing.

The course will present a number of current topics in string algorithms. As no background is assumed from students, an introduction to the classical techniques will be provided.
Some of the potential topics covered include: single and multiple pattern matching, regular expression matching, approximate pattern matching, finite automata approach, dynamic programming, filtration, bit parallel algorithms, detecting regularities in strings, etc.