Spring 2005, CSCE 476/876
CSCE476/876, Spring 2005: 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
computational. 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.
Lectures: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from 11:30 p.m. to 12:20 p.m.
Location: Avery Hall, Room 110.
Make-up Class/Recitation: Wednesday from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Location: Avery Hall, Room 21.
the page will be regularly updated. Check it out often for reference
to required and recommended reading material, homework texts, and
announcements.
Instructor: Prof. Berthe Y. Choueiry
Office location: Room 123B, Avery Hall,
choueiry AT cse.unl.edu, tel: (402)472-5444.
Office hours: Mon 12:30-01:30 p.m., Wed 12:30-01:30
p.m. (right after class) or by appointment.
TA: Ms. Yaling Zheng
email: yzheng AT cse.unl.edu
Office location: Room 123D, Avery Hall
Office hours: Tue 5:00-6:00 p.m. and Fri 4:00-5:00 p.m.
In an effort to provide you with the best possible support,
the following research assistants will be holding office hours:
- Mr. Joel Gompert, Office 123D, Avery Hall, jgompert AT cse.unl.edu
Office hours: Mon 5:00--6:00 p.m. and Wed 4:00-5:00 p.m.
- Mr. Ryan Lim, Office 123D , Avery Hall,
rlim AT cse.unl.edu
Office hours:
Thu 5:00--6:00 p.m.
For quick response, email
cse476@cse.unl.edu. Your message will be forwarded to both TA
and instructor.
Textbooks (check the bookstore):
-
Required: Artificial Intelligence, A Modern Approach (AIMA), Second Edition,
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, 6 (partially), 7, 9, and 10 (quickly) and, time
permitting, 11, 13, and/or 14. 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. We
will not set-up a web handin account. 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 surprise quizzes
throughout the semester (with a frequency inversely proportional
to students' attendance). Quizzes will address all
material covered during the lectures and/or appearing in
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
department's unix server or PCs (with Linux), in order to run xemacs
(editor) and Allegro Common Lisp (ACL), the programming
environment.
- 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.
-
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 8% 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--86
|
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 Math Library in Avery:
-
AI
-
Artificial Intelligence, A Modern Approach (AIMA), by Russell &
Norvig.
-
Artificial Intelligence, 3rd Edition. Winston. ISBN 0201533774.
-
ANSI Common Lisp; Graham. ISBN 0-13-370875-6.
-
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
-
Contributed by Eric Moss (S02): Parenthetically
Speaking (with Kent M. Pitman)
-
Free copy of ACL6.2.
-
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. Slow (local on cse: Introduction,
Contents,
Index). Quicker (link to
Franz's web page Introduction).
-
Successful Lisp: How
to Understand and Use Common Lisp, by David B. Lamkins
-
COMMON
LISP: An Interactive Approach, by Stuart C. Shapiro
-
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:
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The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences, call number BF311 .M556
1999, LIB USE ONLY.
-
Encyclopedia of artificial intelligence, 1992, SECOND EDITION,call number
Q335 .E53, LIB USE ONLY.
-
Section on "General AI Information" in "AI
Resources."
-
Dictionary of Algorithms, Data Structures,
and Problems
-
Web search engines (Google, Altavista,
etc.)
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
Last modified: Thu Jan 13 18:49:27 CST 2005