Andrew Barto
barto at cs.umass.edu
(413) 545-2109
Office: CMPS 272
Office hours -Tuesday and Thursday 11:00-12:00, or by appointment

Philip Thomas
pthomas at cs.umass.edu
Office hours - Monday 10:00-11:00, Wednesday noon-1:00 in LGRT 220

Prerequisites

(CMPSCI 187 or CMPSCI 220 or CMPSCI 291SP) and (CMPSCI 240 or CMPSCI 311)

Textbook: Artificial Intelligence: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, Third Edition by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig. You must use the third edition of this book. This book's website contains lots of useful information and links: be sure to check it out. The UMass Text Annex will be displaying a digital option through CafeScribe, along with new, used and rental copies of the book for the start of classes. The book's website lists other e-book options.

The Course explores key concepts of artificial intelligence, including problem solving, heuristic search techniques, game playing, automated planning, reasoning under uncertainty, decision theory and machine learning. We will examine how these concepts are applied in the context of several applications.

Homework assignments (5 or 6): 45%
Midterm: 20%
Final Exam: 25%
Class Participation: 10%

Exams will be closed book and closed notes. They will focus on conceptual understanding of key ideas from the course, including algorithms, data structures, and ability to match algorithms and data structures to actual problems. Each exam will be preceded by a review session. If you have any special needs/circumstances pertaining to an exam, you must talk to the instructor before the exam.

Assignments are to be handed in in class, or in the main office of the Computer Science building by 4:00 PM on the due date. A total of five extension days which can be applied to any combination of homework assignments during the semester without penalty. Additional extensions will be granted only due to serious and documented medical or family emergencies.

Homework assignments and tests will be returned in class. If you think a grading error was made on an assignment or test, or if you do not get the assignment or test handed back to you, you must talk to the TA or the instructor within a week of when it was handed back.

Cheating is usually the result of other problems in school. Please come see the instructor or the TA anytime if you are unable to keep up with the work for any reason and we will work something out. We want to see you succeed and will do everything we can to help you out!

Instances of academic dishonesty will result in a zero on the project in question and initiation of the formal procedures: see the Academic Honesty and Appeals Procedure; be sure to look at Appendix B which gives examples of academic dishonesty.

Specifically, for this course, and in addition to the instances on that web site, all examinations, programming assignments, and written homeworks must be done individually. Code for programming assignments must not be developed in groups, nor should code be shared. You are encouraged to discuss with your peers, the TA or the instructor ideas, approaches and techniques broadly, but not at a level of detail where specific implementation issues are described by anyone.

If you have any questions on this, please ask the instructor before you act.

Read assigned text before class.
Begin assignments early.
Take notes.
Slides will be online, but they are only reminders of real content which is given verbally and on the board.
Be active.
Participate in discussion during class.
Ask questions.
Take advantage of office hours.

If you have a disability that requires any sort of accommodation to allow you to fully participate in this course, you should contact Disability Services.

Problem Set 1

Problem Set 2, Othello source code

Problem Set 3

Problem Set 4

Problem Set 5