CSCE476/876, Spring 2002: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Prereq: CSCE310,
Data structures and algorithms.
Course description: Introduction to the basic principles, techniques
and tools now being used in the area of machine intelligence. Lecture
topics will include problem solving, knowledge representation and reasoning,
search, expert systems, and planning and action. More advanced topics
may be included depending on class interests and performance. Programming
will be done in Common Lisp using Allegro Common Lisp (ACL) and its programming
environment.
Time:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from 11:30 p.m. to 12:20 p.m.
Place:
Ferguson, Room 111.
Instructor: Prof. Berthe Y. Choueiry
Room 104, Ferguson Hall,
choueiry@cse.unl.edu, tel: (402)472-5444.
Office hours: Mon 4:45-5:45 p.m., Fri 12:30-13:30 pm, or by appointment.
TAs:
Mr. Daniel Buettner (Dan).
email: buettner@cse.unl.edu
Office hours in Room 3, Building 501.
Mon 1.30-2.30 pm; Wed 4.00-5.00 pm.
Mr. Lin XU.
email: lxu@cse.unl.edu
Office hours in Room 3, Building 501.
Tue 3:30-4.30 pm (updated); Fri 12:30-2.00
pm.
the
page will be regularly updated. Check it out often for reference to required
and recommended reading material, homework texts, and announcements.
Textbooks (check the bookstore):
-
Required: Artificial Intelligence, A Modern Approach (AIMA), by Russell
& Norvig.
-
Required: LISP, 3rd Edition (LWH). Winston & Horn.
-
Optional (recommended): Common Lisp, the Language. Guy Steele.
Protocol of the course:
-
Lectures by instructor, 3 times per week.
-
The workload consists of:
-
required and recommended reading (as indicated in the Class
schedule): AIMA (textbook) will be followed in a more or less linear
fashion. The content of the course will be dynamically adapted to
students performance. Chapters to be studied may encompass: Chapter:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (partially), 6, 7, 9, 10 (quickly), 11, 13, 14, 15,
and time permitting, 18, 19, 22, 24, 26, and/or 27. Sections
from these and other chapters may be dropped or added during the course.
Regularly check the class schedule.
-
programming, theoretical, and library-search assignments:
Programming assignments must be done in Common Lisp (advice: use
Allegro Common Lisp on Linux) and turned in using the UNIX
handin
program on cse.unl.edu. Pen+paper
assignments must be given to the instructor in class. All assignments (including
programming and pen+paper assignments) must
be turned in before the lecture on the due date. Late homework
are subject to a 20% deduction per day (including week-ends), any second
after the due date counts as an entire day. Students are kindly requested
to indicate how much time they approximately spend on each exercise;
this information will be aggregated and used for planning purposes, it
does not affect grading and the evaluation of individuals.
-
surprise quizzes: There will be a surprise quiz along the
semester (with a frequency inversely proportional to students'
attendance). Quizzes will address
all
material covered during
the lectures and/or by the required reading. No books or personal
notes are allowed during the quizzes, unless explicitly specified. Quizzes
cannot be made up.
-
tests: There will be a pre-test, a mid-term and a final.
Tests cannot be taken in advance. Tests cannot be made up except
by instructor's permission.
-
It is the student's responsibility to ensure an account on the CSE PCs
from which Linux (+ xemacs, ACL) can be executed. Unless specified, tests
are closed-book exams. Students may however use a one 81/2"x11"
sheet as crib sheet. Students may use both sides of the sheet and
write as small as they like. Crib sheets must be handwritten.
No photocopies, typewritten paper, electronic/mechanical reproductions
will ever be allowed. Further, students must handin their crib sheet
with their exam.
-
Discussions among students, instructor, and TA are encouraged. Homework
however are a strictly individual activity: no sharing is permitted
(unless when specified by instructor). Unethical behavior will be
heavily
sanctioned (e.g., a null grade on the task).
-
Always acknowledge any help received from other individuals.
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Always fully reference material used (e.g., encyclopedia,
book, paper, journal, web site).
-
Attendance is not mandatory. But students are responsible for the
material covered and announcements (such as lists of terms for glossary)
made during the class. Also, there will be surprise quizzes.
Grading policy:
-
The grades are partitioned as follows for undergraduate students:
-
Pre-test: 5%
-
(Surprise) quizzes: 15%
-
Homework: 30% (Programming assignments will be graded as follows: 70% for
correctness, 10% for programming style, and 20% for documentation.)
-
Midterm: 25%
-
Final: 25%
How to secure a good final grading:
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A bonus will be awarded to students who attend all lectures.
-
Students who return every Monday, before class a glossary of terms listed
in handouts will be credited for up to 10% bonus, computed proportionally
to the list of terms they return. Rules for glossary:
-
Students will be have to build an incremental and alphabetically sorted
glossary of important terms.
-
Terms to be included are the ones listed in the handouts distributed in
class or sent my email.
-
A glossary entry can be filled with: (1) its definition in AIMA, (2) its
definition from another AI textbook or dictionary, or (3) the student's
own interpretation.
-
All terms encountered during a week are due as a weekly glossary the following
Monday.
-
At the end of the course, the full alphabetically sorted glossary is due.
(Hint: choose a text editor that can sort entries alphabetically.)
Grade conversion:
>97%
|
A+
|
94-96
|
A
|
90--93
|
A-
|
87--89
|
B+
|
84--96
|
B
|
80--83
|
B-
|
75--79
|
C+
|
67--74
|
C
|
60--66
|
C-
|
57--59
|
D+
|
54--56
|
D
|
51--53
|
D-
|
<=50
|
F
|
Books on reserve at the Love Library (LL):
-
AI
-
Artificial Intelligence, A Modern Approach (AIMA), by Russell &
Norvig.
-
Artificial Intelligence, 3rd Edition. Winston. ISBN 0201533774.
-
Essentials of Artificial Intelligence. Ginsberg. ISBN 1-558s60-22-6.
Call number Q335.G55 1993.
-
Artificial Intelligence: A New Synthesis. Nilsson. ISBN 1-55860-535-5.
Call number Q335.N496 1998.
-
Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming. Norvig. ISBN 1-55860-191-0.
Call number QA76.6.N687.
-
LISP
-
LISP, 3rd Edition. Winston & Horn. ISBN 0-201-08319-1.
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ANSI Common Lisp, Paul Graham. ISBN 0-13-370875-6.
-
Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming. Norvig. ISBN 1-55860-191-0.
Call number QA76.6.N687.
-
Specific topics
-
Foundations of Constraint Satisfaction by Edward Tsang.
-
A mathematical introduction to logic by Enderton, Herbert B, CALL
NO. QA9 .E54 1972.
Online LISP resources:
-
On-line tutorials:
-
References:
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Usenet newsgroup: comp.lang.lisp
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Contributed by Eric Moss: Parenthetically
Speaking (with Kent M. Pitman)
-
LISP
-- a Language for Internet Scripting and Programming
-
Free copy of ACL5.0.1.
-
Franz Inc. by David Cooper Jr.: Understanding
Common Lisp (Basic Lisp techniques, pdf document).
-
Common
Lisp, The Language, Second Edition. Guy L. Steele, Jr. Digital Press,
ISBN: 1555580416 (will be made available soon at LL.)
-
Allegro Common Lisp (ACL) online
documentation: Introduction,
Contents,
Index,
Foreign
function interface
-
Successful Lisp: How
to Understand and Use Common Lisp, by David B. Lamkins
-
The
10 Most Important Things to Know About Lisp, by Heinrich Taube
-
COMMON
LISP: An Interactive Approach, by Stuart C. Shapiro
-
Common
Lisp Hyper Spec, The very definition of class, by The Harlequin
Group Limited.
-
Overview of language
constructs, by Donald Ross
-
Common
Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation, by David S. Touretzky
-
LISP
FAQ by Mark Kantrowitz.
-
... and much more from the Association
of Lisp Users' page.
Finally, a touch of poetry: Only
LISP Can Make a Tree.
Other (AI) references:
Acknowledgments:
Countless web resources and, importantly, pointers from colleagues
and other similar courses. Particular thanks to Rina Dechter (UCI), Marie
desJardins (UMBC), Boi V. Faltings (EPFL), and Daphne Koller (Stanford
University).
Berthe Y. Choueiry
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