It is a little known fact that UMD's introductory algorithms (otherwise known as sorting and counting) course CMSC351, which haunts many computer science undergraduates every semester, was previously labeled as CMSC251. Not only that, but the prerequisites included topics from what is now CMSC132 and CMSC250. Today, the prerequisites for CMSC351 includes CMSC216, which has no impact in preparing students for studying algorithms and complexity theory.

Computer science students at UMD often complain about their challenges faced in CMSC351, some of which include not learning about bogosort, spending too much time on bubble sort, or trouble with approximating the number of comparisons in quicksort when the pivot is invisible. These are all topics that CMSC216 fails to cover. In fact, CMSC216 does not cover any topics related to the algorithms studied in CMSC351, so there is no reason for such a prerequisite.

CMSC351 should be renamed back to CMSC251 because the relevant preparatory material is covered in CMSC250. It is also a little known fact that CMSC250 was previously labeled CMSC150, but it was a good decision to rename the course to CMSC250 due to the scarcity of 200-level CMSC courses. Now, we only need to bring back CMSC251, which would help students clear the subconscious misconception that two years of prior computer science background is essential for success in solving problems related to algorithms.