Upcoming deadlines and events

All guided problem sets and written homeworks are due by 9pm unless announced otherwise.

Thu Sep 24

No lecture — Optional review for Midterm 1

 — [practice 1; practice 1 answer booklet]
Fri Sep 25

No labs — Optional review for Midterm 1

 — [practice 2; practice 2 answer booklet]
Sun Sep 27

Optional review party for Midterm 1

 — [practice 3; practice 3 answer booklet]
Mon Sep 28
Midterm 1: 7:00pm- 9:00pm
Tue Sep 29
Conflict Midterm 1: (time TBA)

Recent announcements

Sun Sep 20

Practice exams for Midterm 1 are available. We strongly recommend attempting each of these practice exams under exam conditions—two hours alone in a quiet space with a one-page cheat sheet but no other notes or internet—before discussing them with others or looking at any solutions. There will be an opportunity to work with course staff and other students on part of each exam (preferably after you attempt the exam alone) in place of lecture, lab, or a homework party. Handwritten solutions and walkthrough videos for each practice exam will be posted late in the evening the same day as that event.

The format of the actual exam will match these practice exams. At the actual exam, we will pass out the question sheet, give everyone a few minutes to read the questions, pass out the answer booklets, and then start the clock.

In addition to the practice exams, there are a collection of practice problems available on PrairieLearn. Completion of these problems will not be considered when determining your overall course grade.

Sat Sep 19

Grades have been released for Homework 2.

Check your scores as soon as possible, and be mindful of the feedback left by the graders as you work on future assignments. You may submit regrade requests that include a brief written justification for why the problem was graded incorrectly until 9pm on Thur Oct 1.

Like with Homework 1:

  • A very large number of submissions either did not include a list of sources and collaborators or an explanation of how an LLM was used. Per course policy (which was repeated on the cover page for Homework 1), every part of every problem must include a list of collaborators and, when applicable, an explanation of LLM usage even if the list is empty (if the list is empty, you should write “Sources and collaborators: None” or similar; otherwise, we can only assume you forgot to cite your source.) Please remember there is no penalty for using outside sources including LLMs as long as you cite them and write your solutions in your own words. (Of course, if you rely on them too much, you won’t get the experience of solving the problems, and that will be reflected in your exam performance.)

    Graders removed all points for problem parts that did not follow the above policy. However, you may submit regrade requests with your list of sources and LLM explanation to remove the penalties (if a penalty was applied in error, please point out where the sources are listed like you would when requesting a regrade for any other kind of grader error.)

  • Some other submissions were penalized for being too hard to read or otherwise ignoring formatting requirements. Similar to the citation penalties, you may submit regrade requests acknowledging the issue to have the penalties cleared. Please understand that this penalty was applied somewhat subjectively. Different graders may disagree on what they consider readable; the point of this penalty in particular is to get your attention now before someone cannot grade your work later in the semester.

  • We will grant the opportunity to have the above penalties removed for the first two three written homeworks.

  • You may not have received a score at all for a problem if you’re in a group and the assignment was submitted without listing all group members in Gradescope. If you’re missing a score, please ask the submitting group member to add your name to the group (from Emily’s end, this is done by pulling up the problem submission and clicking the “View or edit group” link under the Gradescope assignment title in the upper right corner of the page.)

Wed Sep 16

Midterm 1 will be held on Monday, September 28, from 7pm to 9pm. The exam will cover all material featured in Homeworks 1, 2, 3, and 4: induction on strings and languages, regular languages, regular expressions, DFAs, NFAs, fooling sets, regular language transformations, and context-free languages and grammars. The exam will not cover Turing machines.

  • The exam will be split across multiple rooms throughout the Campus Instructional Facility (CIF). Please go the room that matches the start of your last name.

  • Please read and understand the exam policies. In particular, you are allowed to bring one double-sided 8½“×11“ handwritten cheat sheet to the exam.

  • We are offered multiple optional review sessions next week:

    • Thursday, September 24, in place of the usual lecture
    • Friday, September 25, in place of the usual labs
    • Sunday, September 27, in place of the usual homework party

    There will no homework party on Monday, September 28 (as you’ll be taking the exam!)

  • We will post multiple practice exams late this week or early next week, which will have the same format as (but different questions than!) the actual midterm. We will cover these practice exams in the review sessions. Solutions and walkthrough videos will be released for each practice exam after the corresponding review session.

  • We are offering a conflict exam on Tuesday, September 29. If you cannot attend the regular midterm for any of the reasons outlined in the student code, please fill out this registration form no later than Friday, September 25. On Monday, September 28, we will email the precise time and location of the conflict exam to students who have filled out the registration form.

  • If you have a DRES accommodation, you are welcome to take the exam at the DRES Testing Accommodation Center either Monday or Tuesday. We strongly recommend scheduling your exam at TAC immediately if you have not done so already.

Sat Sep 12

Grades have been released for Homework 1.

Check your scores as soon as possible, and be mindful of the feedback left by the graders as you work on future assignments. You may submit regrade requests that include a brief written justification for why the problem was graded incorrectly until 9pm on Sat Sep 26.

Two things stood out in particular for this homework:

  • A very large number of submissions either did not include a list of sources and collaborators or an explanation of how an LLM was used. Per course policy (which was repeated on the cover page for Homework 1), every part of every problem must include a list of collaborators and, when applicable, an explanation of LLM usage even if the list is empty (if the list is empty, you should write “Sources and collaborators: None” or similar; otherwise, we can only assume you forgot to cite your source.) Please remember there is no penalty for using outside sources including LLMs as long as you cite them and write your solutions in your own words. (Of course, if you rely on them too much, you won’t get the experience of solving the problems, and that will be reflected in your exam performance.)

    Graders removed all points for problem parts that did not follow the above policy. However, you may submit regrade requests with your list of sources and LLM explanation to remove the penalties (if a penalty was applied in error, please point out where the sources are listed like you would when requesting a regrade for any other kind of grader error.) We only guarantee this opportunity to have the citation penalty removed for the first two written homeworks.

  • You may not have received a score at all for a problem if you’re in a group and the assignment was submitted without listing all group members in Gradescope. If you’re missing a score, please ask the submitting group member to add your name to the group (from Emily’s end, this is done by pulling up the problem submission and clicking the “View or edit group” link under the Gradescope assignment title in the upper right corner of the page.)

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