Statement of Academic honesty
At this point in your academic careers, I feel that it would be impolite to harp on cheating, so I won't. My policy in this class is simple: you may collaborate as much as you want on the homework assignments; during exams you may not so much as daydream about working with someone else; and on the programming projects, your submitted solutions must reflect your own work.
For the projects, do not copy from others or let others copy your work; however, you may think of the TAs as your close collaborators. Feel free to go to them with any problems that you are having. That's why they are there.
For any solution, you must cite all of the resources you relied on for coming up with your answers. This includes web pages, publications, people, and so on, other than the textbook, instructor, and TAs. You need to abide by the academic honor code of Georgia Tech.
Readings and Lectures
My research area is AI, and I'm deeply into it. Given that and my lung capacity, it turns out that I can prattle on about the material for days on end; however, that rather misses the point.
Lectures are meant to summarize the readings and stress the important points. You are expected to come to class having already critically read any assigned material. Your active participation in class is crucial in making the course successful. I completely expect to be interrupted throughout a lecture with questions and maybe even your deep insights into the material. This is less about my teaching than about your learning. My role is merely to assist you in this process.
Grading
Your final grade is divided into four components: homework, projects, a midterm and a final exam.
Homework. We will post textbook-style homeworks with short questions. We will not collect or grade your solutions; however, solving these problems is important because they ensure that you have understood the material and are prepared for the exams. If you can answer these questions, you should have a good chance of doing well on the exams. We will post a solution to a homework about one week after we have assigned it.
Projects. There will be five graded projects. As noted above, your solutions should reflect your own work.
Midterm. There will be a written, closed-book midterm. With that and your first three projects, you should have a fair indication of how you are doing by mid-semester. The exam will be in class.
Final Exam. There will be a written, closed-book final exam at the scheduled time.
Due Dates
All graded assignments are due by the time and date indicated. We will not accept late projects or make up exams. You will get zero credit for any late assignment. The only exceptions will require: a note from an appropriate authority and immediate notification of the problem when it arises. Naturally, your excuse must be acceptable. You should treat assigned readings as, well, assignments that are due at the beginning of each class.
Numbers
| Component | Weight | |
| Homework | 0% | |
| Projects | 30% | |
| Midterm | 30% | |
| Final | 40% |
Although class participation is not explictly graded, we will use your class participation to determine whether your grade can be lifted in case you are right on the edge of two grades. Participation means attending classes, participating in class discussions, asking relevant questions, volunteering to provide answers to questions, and providing constructive criticism and creative suggestions that improve the course or the textbook.