CSC 480 Artificial Intelligence I
Summary
The course provides an in-depth survey of important concepts, problems, and techniques in artificial intelligence, including heuristic search, adversarial search in games, logical inference and reasoning, reasoning with uncertainty, and machine learning. A particular focus and a unifying theme of the course will be the concept of intelligent agents. For more information, please visit: http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/mobasher/classes/CSC480.
Texts
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, 4th edition, by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig. Prentice-Hall.
Grading
The structure and grading in the class will be centered around 4 assignments, several online quizzes, and a final exam.
The assignments will generally involve a significant amount of programming, but may also include written problems related to topics covered in class. The course is designed specifically to be language independent. You can use the programming language of your choice for programming assignments. While this provides you with some flexibility, it also requires you to be comfortable with your programming skills in your preferred language. The lecture material will include detailed discussion of algorithms and specific examples related to the assignments. However, in general, we will not discuss implementation issues related to a specific programming language. It will be up to you to implement and code the necessary algorithms in your preferred language based on specified requirements for each assignment. Please be sure to take this information into account and allocated sufficient amount of time for assignments.
You are welcome to discuss the assignments together with other students in class, including on the class discussion forums, but you must develop and submit your own solution. Feel free to post questions related to assignments on the assignment discussion boards. Also, feel free to answer questions posted by others and provide helpful suggestions (without posting solutions). Late assignments will be penalized 10% per day (with weekends counting as one day).
The quizzes are primarily designed for you to test your knowledge of the material related to topics covered in class. The online quizzes will be administered through D2L. Typically, the quizzes will be graded automatically and you will have an opportunity to submit them up to three times within a limited period of time. The final exam will be comprehensive and will include questions analogous to those on online quizzes. The final exam will be administered online, similarly to quizzes, at a designated time during the finals week.
The final grade will be determined (tentatively) based on the following scheme:
Assignments = 60%
Quizzes = 15%
Final Exam = 25%
The general grading scheme will be based on a curve. At the end of the quarter, some adjustments may be made based on overall class performance as well as signs of individual effort. Pluses and minuses will be given at the high/low ends of each grade range.
Prerequisites
CSC 403 (or equivalent background in programming and data structures regardless of language).
List of Topics
- Introduction to AI
- Intelligent Agents
- Heuristic Search
- Adversarial Search and Games
- Constraint Satisfaction Problems
- Logical Inference and Reasoning Agents
- Probabilistic Reasoning
- Machine Learning
- Reinforcement Learning
This syllabus is subject to change as necessary during the quarter. If a change occurs, it will be thoroughly addressed during class, posted under Announcements in D2L and sent via email.
Evaluations are a way for students to provide valuable feedback regarding their instructor and the course. Detailed feedback will enable the instructor to continuously tailor teaching methods and course
content to meet the learning goals of the course and the academic needs of the students. They are a requirement of the course and are key to continue to provide you with the highest quality of teaching. The
evaluations are anonymous; the instructor and administration do not track who entered what responses. A program is used to check if the student completed the evaluations, but the evaluation is completely
separate from the student’s identity. Since 100% participation is our goal, students are sent periodic reminders over three weeks. Students do not receive reminders once they complete the evaluation.
Students complete the evaluation online in CampusConnect.
This course will be subject to the university's academic integrity policy. More information can be found at http://academicintegrity.depaul.edu/ If you
have any questions be sure to consult with your professor.
All students are expected to abide by the University's Academic Integrity Policy which prohibits cheating and other misconduct in student coursework. Publicly sharing or posting online any prior or current materials from this course (including exam questions or answers), is considered to be providing unauthorized assistance prohibited by the policy. Both students who share/post and students who access or use such materials are considered to be cheating under the Policy and will be subject to sanctions for violations of Academic Integrity.
All students are required to manage their class schedules each term in accordance with the deadlines for enrolling and withdrawing as indicated in the University Academic Calendar. Information on enrollment, withdrawal, grading and incompletes can be found at http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/Current%20Students/Pages/PoliciesandProcedures.aspx.
Students who feel they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss their specific needs. All discussions will remain confidential.
To ensure that you receive the most appropriate accommodation based on your needs, contact the instructor as early as possible in the quarter (preferably within the first week of class), and make sure that
you have contacted the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) at:
Lewis Center 1420, 25 East Jackson Blvd.
Phone number: (312)362-8002
Fax: (312)362-6544
TTY: (773)325.7296