Need help designing a class schedule optimizer for college courses

Courses
1

Hey everyone! I’m working on a cool project to make life easier for college students. You know how we have to pick different time slots for lectures and tutorials each semester? It can be a real headache trying to fit everything together without overlaps.

I want to make a program that takes all the available time slots for different courses and figures out all the possible schedules that work. Here’s what I’m aiming for:

  • Pick one lecture and one tutorial for each course
  • Make sure nothing overlaps
  • Show all the possible combinations that fit

I’m pretty good with Python, so that’s what I want to use. Any ideas on where to start? Maybe some cool algorithms or tricks I could look into? I’m excited to build this as a side project, so any tips would be awesome!

Here’s a quick example of what I’m thinking:

def generate_schedules(courses):
    all_combos = []
    for combo in itertools.product(*courses.values()):
        if not has_conflicts(combo):
            all_combos.append(combo)
    return all_combos

def has_conflicts(schedule):
    # Check for time overlaps
    pass

courses = {
    'Math101': [('Mon 9-11', 'Wed 2-4'), ('Tue 1-3', 'Thu 10-12')],
    'Chem202': [('Mon 1-3', 'Wed 9-11'), ('Tue 3-5', 'Fri 11-1')],
    # More courses...
}

valid_schedules = generate_schedules(courses)

Any thoughts on how to make this work better? Thanks!

2

Hey BrilliantCoder23! Love the idea of a schedule optimizer. Have you thought about handling different course priorities? Like, some classes might be must-haves while others are more flexible. Maybe you could add a weight system?

Also, what about breaks between classes? Sometimes it’s nice to have a bit of breathing room. Could be cool to factor that in somehow.

I’m curious - how are you planning to handle different semester lengths or courses that don’t run the full term? That could add an interesting twist to your algorithm.

Keep us posted on how it goes! This could be a real lifesaver for a lot of students. :blush:

3

hey brilliantcoder23, cool project idea! for optimization, check out constraint satisfaction problems (CSP) algorithms. they’re perfect for this kinda scheduling stuff. you could use a library like python-constraint to implement it. also, consider adding preferences like ‘no 8am classes’ or ‘compact schedule’. good luck with ur project!