Announcements

Sat Sep 26

We are holding a Midterm 1 Review Party where you can work on Practice Exam 3 or ask other questions related to Monday’s exam. It will take place 6pm–8pm Sunday Sep 26 in Siebel 0216, the larger room near the normal room reserved for homework parties.

Fri Sep 25

Solutions for Midterm 1 practice exam 2 are available along with a video of Aashima solving it.

Thu Sep 24
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.)

Older announcements

Sun Sep 06

The standard meta-rubric has been updated with some clarifications and reminders. Specifically:

  • There is a note on small penalties designed to grab your attention without being large enough to affect your semester grade.
  • There is a reminder to cite all sources or explain there were no sources on each part of each homework problem. In addition, there should be a brief explanation of LLM usage.
  • There is a reminder to check feedback even if you get a perfect score on assignments.
Sat Sep 05
  • In recognition of Labor Day, there will be no homework party held the evening of Monday, September 7. The homework party for Sunday, September 6 will take place as usual from 6pm to 8pm in 0218 Siebel Center.
  • As mentioned during last week’s lecture and at various places on the website, Guided problem set 2 is due by 9pm on Tuesday, September 8, and Homework 2 is due by 9pm on Wednesday, September 9.
Tue Sep 01
  • As a reminder, groups of up to three students can submit group solutions. We strongly encourage (but will not require) every student to work in a group with at least one other student. Please see look over the homework submission logistics for how to do a group submission. (And please look over the rest of the homework policies as well, so we can grade you fairly and provide good feedback!)
  • The standard rubric for DFA/NFA design have been updated in preparation for…
  • Homework 2 is now available. We will not typically announce homework releases unless there’s something else happening to go along with them like the aforementioned rubric update.
Tue Aug 25

We will be holding homework parties

  • Sundays 6pm–8pm in 0218 Siebel Center
  • Mondays 6pm–8pm in 0218 Siebel Center

Borrowing text from the weekly events page: Homework parties are dedicated times for students to work together on the current week’s CS 374 homework. Students are expected to help each other; course staff are also present to answer questions and offer assistance. This is a great opportunity to meet other people to form homework groups. In weeks with no homework, homework parties will turn into review sessions. (That said, the normal time for the Monday homework party coincides with the time for the midterm exams.)

Mon Aug 24

Welcome to CS/ECE 374 Section A!

The course website contains everything you need to know about the goals for the course, expectations, a full schedule of lectures and assignments, etc. All announcements will be made on the website, but we’ll try to remember to post at least a summary and link on the course’s Ed Discussion and Discord server as well. We will not send email announcements (other than the first one sent August 24) unless something very unusual and time sensitive occurs.

By now, everybody registered before Monday August 24 should be invited to PrairieLearn for the guided problem sets and Gradescope for the written homeworks. Feel free to join the optional Ed Discussion forum and/or Discord server at your leisure. Every lecture will be recorded, but we hope to see you in person at least for the first one at 11am Tuesday August 25 in 0027/1025 Campus Instructional Facility.

See you there!