Course Policies

There will be 4 homeworks, 4 programming assignments, a term project, and two in-class exams. The first exam will cover material from the first half of the course, and the second exam will cover material from the latter half. Both exams are in-class and will be held 7 to 10 pm on the days indicated in the schedule. The final term project report due is on the day of the tournament. The course grade will be based on attendance and class participation (5%), performance on the homeworks and programming assignments (35%), the project (10%) and the exams (25% each). Homeworks will consist of questions requiring written answers and small computational exercises. Programming assignments will require programming in Java or C/C++. They involve implementing and evaluating AI algorithms in the context of interesting problems, typically by augmenting code we provide. We recommend working on homeworks, programming assignments and the term project in pairs. Each pair should make a single joint submission. You will take the exams individually, of course.

Classnotes and Handouts

Homeworks will be posted on the course Web page. Annoucements pertaining to the class will made on the course newsgroup, so please check it frequently. Lecture slides will be posted on the web too.

Homework Policies

The purpose of homework is to train you to solve problems and to help deepen your understanding of concepts introduced in class. Homeworks and programming assignments are due in class on the dates specified in the course schedule below. We encourage you to submit typed homeworks. Homework is worth full credit when turned in at the beginning of the class on the due date. A 10% penalty per day will be incurred on late homeworks. Solutions to homeworks will be handed out a week after the due date. Graded homeworks will also be returned at this time. No submissions will be accepted after the solutions are released.

Grading and Regrades

Grades and other performance statistics will be posted on the newsgroup. If you believe we have made an error in grading your homeworks or exams, please bring the matter to our attention within one week . No makeup exams will be given.

Software

Owlnet is the primary public computing resource for this class. We will make course software available via the course account comp440 on Owlnet.

Academic Integrity

The work you submit for this class is expected to be the result of your own work and that of your homework partner. You are free to discuss course material and approaches to problems with your other classmates, the teaching assistants and the professor, but you should never misrepresent someone else's work as your own. If you use any material from online sources, you must provide proper attribution ( as shown here) in your homework/programming assignment turnins. A tutorial on how and when to cite sources is here. You should explain what value you have added to work taken from online sources. Finally, it is also your responsibility to protect your work from unauthorized access. I will expect you to follow the Honor Code in this course.

Accomodation for Disability

If you have a documented disability that will impact your work in this class, please contact me (devika@rice.edu) to discuss your needs. Additionally, you will need to register with the Disability Support Services Office in the Ley Student Center.
Last modified: 8 August 2007 by
Devika Subramanian
devika@rice.edu