CSC 458:
Artificial Intelligence
Course Syllabus
Spring, 2006
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Instructor: |
Dr. Paige Meeker |
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Office Hours: |
Anytime I’m in my office, or by appointment |
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Class Hours: |
Monday/Wednesday 1:30-2:45 |
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Office: |
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Phone: |
864-833-8413 (Office) 803-749-1647 (Home) Only between 9:00am and 9:00pm, please |
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Email: |
mpmeeker@presby.edu (work) PaigeMeeker@sc.rr.com (home) |
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Class Web Page: |
http://web.presby.edu/~phmeeker/classes/pc/Classes.htm |
Text
"Artificial Intelligence, a Modern Approach,” 2nd edition – S.
Russell and P. Norvig
Overview
“For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the
Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be.” From “Locksley
Hall,” by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Artificial intelligence is one of the
oldest fields in Computer Science and still one of the most exciting areas of
study. This course explores several major topics in artificial intelligence.
These behaviors include problem solving, reasoning, planning, learning, and
communicating. Artificial intelligence is actually a culmination of research
from philosophy, psychology, English, mathematics, and computer science which
makes the study of the intelligent agents a truly universal experience.
OBJECTIVES:
. . .every game of skill is susceptible of
being played by an automaton – Charles Babbage.
The main objective of this course is to
introduce the student to a wide variety of concepts and ideas from artificial
intelligence through 1) practical programming exercises; 2) readings from the
text and a variety of journals; 3) interactive intelligent agents distributed
through the web and other sources; and 4) lively classroom discussions. One of
the exciting aspects of this course is that there isn’t even a standard
definition of Artificial Intelligence or a consensus on what makes a system
intelligent. In addition, there are several conflicting approaches for creating
intelligent agents. This leads to an opportunity for critical analysis of
current literature and the opportunity for students to formulate their own
arguments to support their view of the discipline. We will use the various
components of the course to assist in the development of these ideas.
Mailing List
I may distribute important announcements via email and on the course web site.
Be sure to check your email and the site frequently.
Late Policy
A deadline has
a wonderful way of concentrating the mind. – “Professor Moriarty,”
Character, “Star Trek, TNG,” episode title: “Ship in a Bottle”
It is very difficult for students to
catch up once they have fallen behind. Consequently, late work is not
accepted. NO EXCEPTIONS. All assignments
must be turned in by the start of class the day they are due. If you think you
will be unable to meet a due date on an assignment, contact me in advance to
negotiate an extension. If you have not negotiated an extension, then submit
what you have by the due date to receive partial credit. You will receive no
credit for an assignment submitted after the due date or negotiated new due
date as applicable.
Grading Policy
-
Attendance is expected and noted. More than 5 unexplained absences will result
in the loss of one letter grade per class missed. Grading will be assigned
using the standard scale. Your final grade will be calculated as follows:
Quizzes may or may not be announced but if you keep up with the material
and reading daily, they are not difficult.
All work is to be done on an individual basis unless otherwise specified.
Assignments are NOT team efforts. Working together to share ideas and help in
trouble shooting is allowed and encouraged; however, putting your name on
someone else's work is plagiarizing.
There are no make-up's allowed on any assignment, quiz, or test. If you
miss a class, you are responsible for any and all material given in lecture and
any homework assignment that was given.
Academic Dishonesty
All
work is to be done on an individual basis, unless specified. Assignments are
NOT team efforts. Working together to share ideas and help in troubleshooting
is allowed and encouraged; however, putting your name on someone else's work is
plagiarizing. Anyone caught plagiarizing an assignment or program or cheating
on a quiz or test will receive severe penalties, dictated by the academic honor
code of
In
order to learn the concepts of this class, you are expected to do the work
yourself. Therefore, labs and the term
project are to be done on your own unless otherwise specified in the
assignment. You may find it helpful (and
sometimes essential) to discuss ideas with others; your professor, other
professors, a lab assistant, or other classmates. This is permissible and encouraged, but you
may not use someone else’s ideas as your own.
Talking out a problem is very different from copying someone else’s
project. Turning in work that belongs to
another will be considered plagiarism and there will be severe repercussions,
up to and including a failing grade for the course. If you have any questions about what is
considered fair collaboration and what is not, please feel free to discuss this
with the professor before committing the act.
Once an act of plagiarism or cheating has been committed, you will be
punished accordingly. Ignorance is no
excuse, as you have every opportunity to discuss the matter with your
professor.
In
summary, because you can learn a lot by sharing ideas and approaches with
others, you are encouraged to work together to think about the problems in the
class. However, unless a project is specifically assigned as a group effort,
you must work individually. Just as it is wrong to copy another student's math homework
or copy essays for English or History (even with minor changes of your own), it
is wrong to copy another student's CS project and such copies will be
considered plagiarism as described above.
All
assignments must therefore be pledged. A
copy of the pledge follows below:
"On my honor, I will abstain from all deceit. I
will neither give nor receive unacknowledged aid in my academic work, nor will
I permit such action by any member of this community. I will respect the
persons and property of the community, and will not condone discourteous or
dishonest treatment of these by my peers. In my every act, I will seek to
maintain a high standard of honesty and truthfulness for myself and for the
College."
Project
Description
See the Term
Project Handout
Important
Dates:
You will have a midterm and a final. The
midterm will be given Wednesday, February
15th. The final exam will be on the
day scheduled by
Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us
feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority
complex every time he looks at a flower. – Alan Kay
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For
knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination
embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. – Albert
Einstein
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. – Albert Einstein.
Term Project
Description
Research
in Artificial Intelligence spans many concepts and applications; certainly far
too many for us to cover in depth during our class. The purpose of the term project is for you to
identify a particular topic that you find interesting in AI and to explore that
topic fully in the literature. The topic
may be one that we discuss in class but this is not necessary. It will be easier for you to complete the
project successfully if you select a topic that interests you.
The
term project will also provide you with the opportunity to engage in research
activities and to share your findings with others. These activities are essential to the
development of any discipline and should be mastered by all before the
completion of the course. You will be
guided through the process of
research throughout the term and will be encouraged to reach small milestones
within the process before the final project is due. The class will serve as a mechanism for you
to discuss ideas and interesting findings.
Questions on the final will be formulated from information distributed
about the projects.
Finally,
the term project may also give you more opportunities to learn the programming
language Lisp or Java if you decide to incorporate a programming project into
your term project. A program is
completely optional, but if chosen, the program must directly relate to the
topic that is being investigated and be completely original code. You should have adequate time to understand
the basic principles behind Lisp before deciding whether to incorporate a
program into your project. In some
cases, students may work in teams of 2 on the programming component of the
project, but this must be approved before work begins. But in all cases students must write
individual papers about different aspects of a topic.
Points
will be awarded for the following milestones:
Journals 15
Proposal 5
Outline 10
Abstract 10
Presentation 10
Results 100 50 points each for paper and program if appropriate
150
Journals
You should keep a dated journal for your
project. The entries in your journal
should include bibliographic information of all AI articles, books, and
websites that you have read along with a paragraph summary of the content. These resources may or may not relate to your
chosen topic. You may also wish to use
your journal for note taking and include complete details of the content. Your journal should include a “To Do” list of
tasks that you need to complete for the project and dates indicating when the
task was completed. In addition, you may
want to use your journal for organizing your proposal, outline, abstract, and
final paper. Remember that I will be
reading and commenting in your journals to make sure that you are on track with
your topic. The more information that
you provide to me in your journal, the more I can respond to before your final
paper is submitted.
You will receive 5 points for each journal
submission. Each submission should have
2-5 new bibliography entries. I will be
collecting journals on the following dates:
You may decide whether to use an electronic
journal that you send (email) to me or an “old fashion” notebook journal which
you turn in. However, the journals are
DUE at the BEGINNING of class on the above dates. They will not be accepted late.
Proposal
I want you to choose a topic as soon as
possible so that you can maximize your time spent on the research. I will collect a 1-2 paragraph proposal in
which you will identify your topic area, an objective or purpose to the
research that will narrow the focus of the paper, a software program component
if desired, and a description of the types of resources that you have found or
anticipate finding in your research. The
proposals should be submitted electronically via email by Wednesday, January 18th.
Outline
By early March you should be able to
organize several major points that will support the focus of your paper. I will collect a one page outline that will
identify the major sections and subsections of your paper. I will also collect a design of your Lisp or
Java program if you are choosing to incorporate a program into your
project. The outline (and design) should
be submitted electronically via email or the web by Monday, March 6th.
Abstract
The purpose of an abstract is to summarize
the major findings of a paper so that readers can decide whether the full paper
is appropriate for their area of study. You will post a 3-5 paragraph abstract, which
will introduce your topic and objective, summarize your findings to date, and
highlight any conclusions that you have reached as a result of your research. If you are incorporating a program into your
project, you will also submit any working functions of your program with the
abstract. The abstract should be emailed
to me by Monday, March 27th.
If you are working on a program, you
must also email me your working functions/code by this date.
Presentation
We will hold a mini-conference the last few
days of class to provide students the opportunity to present the results of
their research. I will try to organize
papers into related topics so that we can simulate the conference
atmosphere. You should prepare a 10-12
minute presentation using electronic media and software demonstration as
appropriate. Presentation dates will be
scheduled after topics have been selected and approved.
Results
The results of your research will consist
of either 1) an extended paper (at least 12 but no more than 20 double-spaced
pages [not including your abstract or documentation], appropriately documented,
1 inch margins, appropriate figures allowed); or 2) a shorter paper (at least 6 but no more than 12 double-spaced
pages [not including your abstract or documentation], appropriately documented,
1 inch margins, appropriate figures allowed) and a Lisp or Java Program. Your paper should also include a title page,
abstract, and bibliography. Again, these
additional pages do not count towards the maximum length of the paper and they
must be complete. I will collect papers both
in printed and electronic form on Monday,
April 10th and put them together into a “Conference Proceedings”
for the class.