Copyright © Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Department Vanderbilt University
All Rights Reserved
Required Textbook:
Recommended Textbook:
It is highly recommended that you invest in a LISP Programming language book. You will be programming in LISP. Some suggestions include:
CS250 Algorithms
CS270 Programming Languages
or permission from instructor
Dr. Julie A. Adams
Jacobs Hall, Room 359
julie.a.adams -dot- vanderbilt -dot- edu
http://www.vuse.vanderbilt.ed/~adamsja
Course Materials: www.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~adamsja/Courses/AI/2006/index.html
Office Hours (subject to change): Monday 3:00 - 4:00, Wednesday 4:00 - 5:00
and by appointment.
Arun Ghosh
arunabha.ghosh -at- Vanderbilt -dot- edu
Office Hours: MW 2:00 - 3:00
| Component | Weight |
| Homework Assignments | 35% |
| Project Assignments | 25% |
| Exams | 40% |
There are 5 homework assignments. Some of these assignments will require programming. All assignments are to be typed unless otherwise stated. You may submit your assignments via email directly to the TA or hardcopy of non-programming questions. All homework assignments must be submitted by 1:10PM on the due date, unless otherwise stated by Dr. Adams. Note: The TA cannot be submission decisions. Each homework assignment will be collected and graded. The homework assignment and due dates are listed on the schedule and the actual assignments will be available on the homework assignments web page.
Students are encourage to discuss problem sets with each other but only in a general manner (to help understand the nature of the problem). Specific solutions cannot be discussed, all actual solutions must be your own work. All collaborative discussions must cease 48 hours prior to the assignment due date.
On each assignment you must write and sign the honor pledge as follows:
I pledge my honor that I have neither given nor received aid on this work.
Your homework assignments are due at the start of class (1:10 PM) on the assigned day. Late assignments will only be accepted via pre-arranged agreements with Dr. Adams. If you will not be in class or will be late, your assignment must be submitted by 12:00PM on the due date. Assignments may be dropped off at my office or left in my EECS mailbox (254 FGH). Any assignment left in my EECS mailbox must be time stamped by one of the office personnel.
Undergraduates: The final homework grade for undergraduate students will be composed of the best 4 homework grades. In other words, one homework grade will be dropped.
Graduate students: The final homework grade will be the average of all five homework assignments and no homework grades will be dropped for graduate students.
NOTE: I will stop answering homework questions the conclusion of my office hours on the day before the assignment is due. If an assignments is due on Tuesday, this means I will not respond to in person, email, phone, etc. to questions regarding the homework assignments after 6:00 PM Monday. If you are unable to make the scheduled office hours, please set up an appointment with me prior to the end of office hours.
The project assignments require that they are programmed in LISP, no other programming languages will be accepted. There will be two projects throughout the semester. Each project has a number of deliverables and each deliverable will contributed to the final project grade and will receive a grade. The percentage that each project deliverable counts towards the final project grade will be specified on the assignment. The project assignment due dates are listed on the schedule and complete details are provided on the Project Assignment webpage.
Undergraduates: Programming assignments are to be done as a team or two that will be established at the start of each project and will remain the same throughout the project. All students on a team will receive the same grade unless there are exceptional circumstances. All team members are Required to program an equivalent portion of the assignment. Students who do not contribute to the programming tasks will receive a zero for the entire assignment.
Graduate Students: Graduate students must complete the project as an individual. No teams or partners are permitted for graduate student project submissions.
You are NOT allowed to discuss the assignment with anyone except your team (undergraduates only), Dr. Adams and the current TA. Discussing or working on project assignments with anyone else is considered cheating. Using code from anyone, including code from the Internet, is considered cheating. You are responsible for writing, testing, and debugging your own code. You are not to take unauthorized help nor provide it.
All assignments that require a written submission must include the honor code statement. If the submission is electronic, then the typed statement in your original submission will count as a signed statement. The honor pledge to be included is as follows:
I pledge my honor that I have neither given nor received aid on this work.
No late assignments will be accepted.
NOTE: I will stop answering Project questions at the conclusion of office hours on the day before the assignment is due. If an assignments is due on Tuesday, this means I will not respond to in person, email, phone, etc. to questions regarding the programming assignments after 6:00 PM on Monday. If you are unable to make the scheduled office hours, please set up an appointment with me prior to the end of office hours.
If an assignment is not due on a Tuesday or Thursday, I will answer questions up until 6:00PM the day before the assignment is due.
The midterm exam is scheduled for October 10th. The exam will require the entire class time and will cover the material from Chapters 1 - 6. The exam is closed book but you may bring one 8 by 11.5 sheet of paper containing any information you please to the exam. There will be no make-up exams. A review session will take place during class on Thursday October 5th.
A cumulative final exam will be given on December 15th as scheduled. This exam is closed book but you may bring an 8 by 11.5 sheet of paper. A review session will be held during finals week prior to the exam (TBD).
You may neither receive unauthorized assistance nor provide assistance to someone who is not permitted to receive it. Only the professor and the teaching assistant for this course are authorized to provide assistance. You must write and sign the honor pledge on every exam as follows:
I pledge my honor that I have neither given nor received aid on this work.
Your final grade is based strictly upon your actual numerical grade total calculated from your assignment grades with the percentages above. The table below provides the translation from a numerical grade to a letter grade.
| >= 98 | A+ |
| 93 <= X <=97 | A |
| 90 <= X <= 92 | A- |
| 88 <= X <=89 | B+ |
| 83 <= X <= 87 | B |
| 80 <= X <= 82 | B- |
| 78 <= X <= 79 | C+ |
| 73 <= X <= 77 | C |
| 70 <= X <= 72 | C- |
| 68 <= X <= 69 | D+ |
| 63 <= X <= 67 | D |
| 60 <= X <= 62 | D- |
| <60 | F |
You are always welcome at my office hours. If you are
unable to make my office hours, please contact me and we will make arrangements
to meet.
The following is my office hour rule: If there are 3 or more people waiting to see me, then the student in my office is
limited to 15 minutes of help. After 15 minutes, the person in my office will be required to go to the end of the line and wait for another turn.
Generally speaking I attempt to answer all student inquiries as soon as possible. That said, you should keep in mind the following facts.
1. You should not expect that I will answer email or phone calls after I leave campus, 6PM M - F. You will receive a reply at my first opportunity the next day.
2. As well, I am not guaranteed to answer email or phone calls over the weekend. If you leave a message from me over the weekend, you may not receive a reply until Monday.
3. If I will be away for an extended period, I will let you know my email availability prior to my departure.
It is a shame that this must be stated at all, but there are always a few students who do not abide by the rules of proper academic conduct. For the record:
Those who behave in a dishonest or unethical manner are subject to disciplinary action. Chapter 2 of Vanderbilt's Student handbook clearly specifies the University's Honor System. If you have any questions about what constitutes cheating beyond the specifics above please review the student handbook. You may also reference the Honor Council web page.
For most of you, such warnings are unnecessary. We have to mention this because otherwise some students would say, ``but you never said I couldn't just copy Johnny's work and turn it in as my own.''Some of the course topics are not addressed directly by the text book. You can expect class handouts on materials not covered in the texts.
We cannot stress strongly enough that you are expected to have read assigned portions of the text before class, as some of the material will not be covered in class unless questions arise. You are responsible for everything in the assigned readings whether covered in class or not, as well as lecture material whether covered in the readings or not. Pertinent questions are always welcome.
This course has been designed so that you can complete all the work in one semester. Thus incomplete grades will be given only in the most exceptional circumstances, and then only by prior arrangement. The professor has the final say in this matter.