June 5: I have your competencies, content exams, TTT, MM, presentations, and assignments all done. The large majority of you are fine for full credit. A number of you, however, are missing at least one required piece. In the covenant and syllabus the credit assignment is for 6 credits if you are missing a key piece of the work or have excessive absences. A couple of you, however, are just missing one piece of work. It seems to me like this is a bit too steep of a penalty to lose 2 credits for just one missing piece. Unless I hear of a strenuous objection, I will use the option of assigning 7 credits if just on thing is missing. If several programs or competencies are not passed, the credit will still be 6. Make sure you check the post below for the time for your conference.
June 4: Here are the times I have for Evaluations in room LIB 3401 on Monday, June 8: Shannon- 5:00; Anthony- 5:10; Katie- 5:20; Stefanie-5:30; David- 5:40; Jeff- 5:50; Maria- 6:00; Max-6:10; Constance-6:20; Ben- 6:30; John G- 6:40; Ashish- 6:50; Yahya- 7:00; Neil- 7:10; Christian- 7:20; Alejandro- 7:30; Daniel- 7:40; Henry- 7:50; Taku- 8:00; Irina- 8:10. There are still a couple of folks not signed up yet. I need to have you make arrangements ASAP. 10 minutes is very tight. You will need to have the faculty evaluation ready and I will show you my evaluation for you. If you think you need more than 10 minutes, please let me know and we can reschedule. As of now, no one has elected to take more than 1 time slot. Please be respectful for the next person and keep to the time frame above. Be on time and ready. See you on Monday.
June 3: Our last class is tonight. Be sure you are ready with your group presentations if you have not yet presented. VERY IMPORTANT.. The CAL is closed Monday, June 8, so our conferences will be held in LIB 3401 at your scheduled time. Make sure you double check on your time before then. The library staff will be glad to assist you in finding this room. I will have an initial evaluative narrative for you. It will consist of the following: your performance on the basics of programming- the competencies, your class participation and assignments, your programs, especially TTT and MM, and your contributions to Seminars and class discussions. You will give me your faculty evaluation. We will then discuss the evaluations. I will not submit credits without both evaluations, so please be prepared. Tonight we will finish Chapter 15 and discuss other social issues before the presentations. Finally we will have the last competency exams. Please let me know if you have made improvements in the programs in your cubbie since the weekend.
June 2: Don’t forget to have one person from your BRAIN presentation group post a summary and research sources list to the FORUM for the Brain Presentation on this site. We will finish these presentations tomorrow, have some discussions, and finish with the final competency. Make sure you do all 4 one last time. Don’t forget your evaluation time. We will meet near the classroom. A few of you missed the Content Final. Make sure you email me and see me about this before class on Wednesday.
June 1: We will have out Content final tonight. Be sure to know the KNOW questions cold. I will draw a sample from these questions. Also, be prepared to give your group presentation today. We will finish these presentations on Wednesday. Be sure you write down your time for your Evaluation meeting tonight, if you have forgotten. Come with your faculty evaluation.
May 25: Remember… no class tonight. We will, however, plan to meet for evaluations in 2 weeks, on Monday June 8, during our regular time slot, but I will probably start around 5 or so. Be thinking about a time that would work for you. Plan on between 10 minutes, but up to 20 if you prefer. Sign up for 2 slots. I will have a sign-up in class on Wednesday. The last chance to finish or improve on your portfolio programs is this Friday, May 29. Remember to have a folder in your cubbie called FINAL and put only the best version of each program in there. Also, we will be having the group brain presentations on Wednesday and Monday nights. Be prepared to give yours on Wednesday. We will do half each night, but need to start on Wednesday. You will post an abstract and your research in a forum. Hope you all had a nice break. Let’s finish well.
May 19: Here is the link to the short Mario clip that Henry talked about in class last night. Thanks, Henry. I did not get a request from a group to break the ice and present on Wednesday. Please email me today if you can pull this off. Otherwise, we will have really just 2 days to have the presentations, and it will be very important to keep the presentations about 15 minutes or we will run out of time. I will be emailing you all today with your competency progress and assignments. Make sure you are also OK with the Portfolio in your Cubbie. I will be checking your final versions in a couple of weeks. Make sure you see me with questions, particularly about continuing TTT problems or MasterMind problems if you cannot get help from classmates. Read Kurzweil Ch 9 carefully, but also be thinking about what it means to be conscious, and in particular what it means to be ‘human’. That will be our focus for the remaining couple of weeks. What are your ideas??
May 17: Constance has posted a video of the way to get a start on MasterMind on the General Forum on this page. Check it out, but also come with MasterMind question in class. I will be emailing all of you this week with your status on assignments and competencies. In addition, tomorrow will be the last day for Individual Presentations and to post to the Presentation Forum. If you miss this day, you will have to come up with a make-up assignment, but also clear your idea with me first. This would also apply to missing assignments or if you missed more than one day of class. We will have some work time in class tomorrow, and the competency exam will be at the end of class, so you will have some chance to practice and get it down.
May 14: My sincere apologies for my faulty internal time clock last night. I hope I did not mess up any plans by keeping you too late. We did not go over the To Do list, but I think it is pretty self evident. We will finish all if the individual presentations on Monday. Make sure you post your summary abstract and sources on the forum. I will email you before class on Monday with your status on the competencies. I am counting on you to form 8 puzzle groups if you are in good shape with the competencies, and you will be able to spend time on this project in place of taking the competency exams. We will finish the May 13 topics in class on Monday. See if you can watch the Watson video. There is a link for in on the To Do list. If you are having troubles getting started on MasterMind, make sure you get the template working and add in the ReturnCode function. Then you are just working on the move2() function. You can email me with your code for this function if you have questions, but try first to figure it out on your own or with other students. Again, talk and describe, but do not just copy. It is a doable project and you will see a pattern. Start on some of the enhancements when you get the basic one working.
May 13: I am still missing a number of summary/abstracts with research sources from Presentations already given. I am also missing emails from some of you who have yet to give their individual presentations. Please get both up to date. We will talk a bit more about MasterMind, but you should have started making some progress on the move2() function, trying to change it from returning just a random guess into a ‘good guess’ by the method we talked about in class. Once you begin to work you will usually generate questions you can ask in class, but if you have not started then what we do talk about will not help much. Keep on top of it. Compared to TTT, the code you write will be tiny, and very redundant for move3(), move4() and so on. Remember, there are AMPLE opportunities to make additions to this simple Template (more colors, more than 4 in the code, better user interface, arrays, getting it to stop for good when the color is guessed, etc.) but you need to have time after the basic code is done. Another good reason to start early. We will go over the next level of AI programming, the 8 puzzle, in class, and some of you will be starting on this program. You can work on the 8 puzzle in class while others are finishing their competencies. Remember we have a Seminar today (rest of Ch 7 and Chapter 8), so come with notes to class. Finally, be making progress on your Brain group presentation, which will begin in a week from today.
May 10: Here are the group BRAIN groups I have from last Wednesday: HOW DOES A NEURON WORK? Ashish, Jonathan, Ahmed, Taku MECHANICAL BRAINS: Jeff, Dan FREE WILL: Anthony, Yahya, Alejo, Christian EVOLUTION AND HUMANITY: Irina, Neil PARTS OF THE BRAIN: Stefanie, Ben, Henry DREAMS: Katie, Cezar, Will, Maria GESTALT: Shannon, Constance, Max, David Please let me know if you are not on this list, or if there is an error. Make sure you do all of the even problem for Chapter 14, not just those on page 271.
May 6: I still see some TTT programs, and others, that are not close to being finished yet. The cubbie is your portfolio. The TTT program is credit based, as if you have not make some significant progress it will be a credit issue. Email me with questions, but first try the lightly used (to this point) TTT forum. Get help if you need it. Same with craps, etc.. I will not nag, but I do want to spend my time helping and not just telling you what you already know. Also, there are many missing posts for the Presentations. Include a link and/or description of your sources. I will be trying to recruit a few groups to work ahead on the 8-puzzle tonight. Please give this serious consideration. There are a number of you who are able to handle this challenge. Also, be thinking about a topic you would like to investigate involving the brain or computer models of the brain. I will have some in mind, but will add your suggestions to the mix. See you tonight.
May 4: We will start on the second half of the program tonight. As mentioned before, the new content is front loaded, so we will be spending more time now on using and building with what we have. There will, however, still be new material. We will go over this new list of topics tonight. We will also have time for the Seminar we missed last Wednesday. Come with your notes on Chapters 5 and 6. We will also be starting our last competency on Arrays tonight. Make sure you look at the To Do list again to be sure you are up to speed. If you have presented your presentation, be sure to post a summary abstract and your resources to the Forum.
April 30: I took out a couple of the To Do items since we did not have time to go through them last night. Be sure to look at the remaining items. We will have our Seminar over HTCAM, Chapter 5 and 6, on Monday. Don’t forget to post to the Presentations forum once you present in class. We will introduce the last of our competencies, Writing code using arrays, on Monday. Again, you have a few weeks to get these down. The trick is to pass them early so you can take the pressure off. At the same time, you do not want to be in week 8 or 9 with unpassed competencies. Find someone in class or catch me before or after class to go over them on a one on one basis. You should be finishing TTT, and we will be starting more on MasterMind next week.
April 28: We had a bit of a rush last night talking about the Solve By Exhaustion problem you need to finish before class on Wednesday. Here is a couple of hints to get you started: This example program you have on the PROBLEM PAGE (Example 1) solves this problem: Find 4 numbers such that the first number is divisible by 3, the second number is twice the first, the third number is equal to the first number times the second, and the 4th number is equal to the third number minus the second minus the first. When you run the Example 1 program you see that you find 2 sets of answers that satisfy this problem (3, 6, 18, 9) is one.. The program works by checking ALL combination of 4 numbers within the 4 for statements. The first check is 0,0,0,0, then 0,0,0,1 all the way up to 0,0,0,99. At this point the third nested for is incremented by one and the next check is for 0,0,1,0 all the way to 0,0,1,99.. then 0,0,2,0 and so on all the way up to 99,99,99,99. For each group of 4 numbers you have several if statements to check to see if it is a group that works. You can see the solution for the Example 1 program by viewing the source. Copy and past this. Run it. Your task is to change the if statements so that it solves the new problem given in the assignment. You only need to rewrite the 4 if statements, nothing else. When your program works, print out the code and write the answer in pen on your paper and turn it in on Wednesday. As another hint, Check Example 2 on the Classes/Week5/April 27 page. The if statements are:
if (i*3==m)
if(i*2-4==j)
if (k==i+j)
if (i+j+k+m==145)
document.write(i+” “+j+” “+k+” “+m+“<br>”);
In English, this means find a number where the 4th number (look at the for loops.. m is the 4th variable checked..) is three times the first, the second number (j) is equal to 4 less than twice the first, the third number (k) is equal to the sum of the first 2 numbers, and the sum of all the numbers is 145. You can see that this works when you run Example 2.
April 27: We will be talking about CRAPS a bit in class tonight. It is important to consider the process more than the product in your programs. Craps, along with the competencies, are about translating from English to JavaScript. You had the English algorithm. The punch line is that if you can write an unambiguous English algorithm you can translate this to any computer language. We are practicing that idea, though it is far from simple. Don’t get lost in the details of JavaScript. We will discuss this further in class tonight. Make sure you are ready for your Presentation. If you are not approaching completion of move 3 on TTT, I need to see activity from you on the TTT forum, study groups, online and email. TTT is a requirement for the course and a credit issue, so do not let it slide. I think this group set a record for the most passed Read Code competencies on the first try. You will need to pass it several times. However, only a few passed the Write Code competency. We will have another one in class tonight. Keep after it. It will take practice, no doubt.
April 25: Be sure you are making progress on Tic Tac Toe. I will comment on this program in our evaluation, and if it is not mostly done it will be a credit issue. I am sure most of you will hit a wall sometime in the process. It is necessary, however, to take the initiative and get help if/when you get stuck. I want you to have success, and if you take it one small step at a time (just checking one new board possibility for each new version) you will have success. What will not work is to turn in a program that does not work in your cubbie. You must have many versions that work, and you will turn in your BEST version for final evaluation. Make sure you are ready for your presentations, and time yourself to make sure you can stay within the 3-5 minute range. We will be starting on our next program, MasterMind, this week. Be thinking about the Human Relationship limit to computers. What is your reaction to this? When/How/Why would this become a non-issue, or a larger issue, as computers advance?
April 20: I have been looking at your cubbies and I am finding many programs that are not working. I have emailed to some of you, but I would much rather check off a working program that to look at one that is not finished. The computer will tell you if it works or not. If it does not, try to fix it, and that may include a question on the Forum, a study session, or an online or email question to me. I will announce a time when I will check all of the cubbies, but for now, if the program is not working, fix it. I will grade your work as a portfolio of your programming several times during the quarter. Make sure you come with any question on Reed, chapter 3 and 6. Look at the posted answers to the questions on this site. We will begin presentations on Wendesday, so if you are ready for that day, let me know in class tonight. It will be nice for you to have that done early. I will also be asking for input on Seminar tonight, so come with your thoughts on how to maximize your experience. Tonight will be perhaps the most important class session of the quarter, so be there and be ready to be involved and participate as we look into the possibilities, and more importantly the limitations of computers.
April 16: Make sure you are starting on both the Craps program and the Tic Tac Toe program while some of the ideas are fresh in your head. Use the TTT forum. We will have another chance to pass the content exam on Monday, which will be the same one you had on Wednesday. You need to get them all correct. Review KNOW and be prepared. I will continue to check your cubbies, but I am much more interested in helping you to get a program to work than to just mark it off on my sheet. The computer will “grade” if the program works or not, so you do not need my input for that. You might need my input, however, to get it to work if it does not. Please use your own efforts first, then other students, and then me. Just find a way to get over a hurdle and get the program to work. Also, if you have input on ways to improve the Seminar, let me know in class on Monday. I want to give you as much freedom as I can, but each class and group is different. I can provide as much direction as you require, but I also want to provide as little as you need. My concern is that the discussion remains rooted in the analysis of the text, supplemented by your own tangential experiences, insights, and observations.
April 14: We did not look at the page on the website about how to go about writing a program. Check it our here, or on Classes/Week2/April 13. Be sure to check the TO DO list carefully. Put some time into your English versions of TTT and Craps. Most importantly, prepare for the Seminar. I will be online tonight and tomorrow morning. Check your gmail.
April 13: You should have all received an email from me with a grade from the form letter program. Please be sure to meet the requirements for the assignment and to name it properly and put it in your cubbie. If you did not get an email from me, that means you did not turn the assignment in, and you have a hole in your requirements. You will need to plug this hole before the end of the quarter so you can get full credit. Talk to me ASAP. By far the easiest way through the program is to monitor the To Do list carefully and do assignments correctly and on time. You will have 2 new programs to put in your cubbies for tonight. I will need a program called change.html and one called PersonalWebsite.html. Make sure these programs work. If you are having trouble, get help. Ask in class, check the Forums, look for me online. or email me. This week we will be looking at the if and while statements, and starting on Tic tac toe. In addition, you will have 2 chapters summaries you will turn in before class tonight. We will be doing more programming in class tonight. Try to finish up your Ch 3 reading for Seminar (HTCAM) so you can ask questions. Also, we will be discussing the video you say in class last time along with Seminar 1.
April 9: The video last night was a bit longer than I thought, so we will start on the if statement on Monday. In the mean time, play with the examples on the Classes/Week2/April 8 page, and look at the book and w3schools examples. We will be using a very simple version of the if, so don’t get hung up with the examples using html, functions, etc.. just focus on the behavior of the if statement itself. The first seminar went OK, but we will talk more about that also in class on Monday. I will not be checking the formletter until the weekend, so you have some extra time to put it in your cubbie. It is up to you to see me if you miss an assigment, or must arrive late or leave early from class. Have an idea of what you want to do to make it up and discuss it with me first. Usually this will be a class presentation. Don’t confuse this with the In The News time. That is not for make-up, just interest. I have updated the To Do list, so check that again. Once again, be sure to keep up. You will need to start mastering the basic questions of the class (Diagram a computer, 6 things, etc..) so include that as a given in your preparation. Most importantly, if you are unclear or have questions, ASK! You can ask each other first, but if confusion remains, ask me in class, online or via email.
April 7: Thanks to all those folks who asked questions in class last night. Be looking for news items relating to technology, brains, or intelligence and share them in class during the In The News portion of class. I have made 2 new forums. In the Jobs forum, reply with a description of what you desire to research relating to your potential future employment field. If you see someone already preparing a presentation in that area, either choose another or collaborate with them to divide up what you will be presenting. Presentations will start Week 4. I have also make a forum for questions on the Personal Website/FormLetter/Change programs. If you are done or skilled, monitor this forum to see if you can answer a question. Post a well thought out question if you are stuck. You can share non-working code if you are asking a question, but answers should not be significant chunks of working code. Instead point out problems in you reply. I will not monitor this forum on a regular basis, but I will comment during evaluations on students active in helping other students. If you do not get an answer that helps in the forum, ask in class, look for me online, or email me directly.
I have gone back to the old gmail version, and I believe have added most of you to my online list. Log into your gmail account. Search for my email (avecompcog15@gmail.com) and add me to your list. You will see me when I am online and I can see you. I will have online office hours periodically if we can get this working. In your Change Program, you might get an Off By One (OBO) error, due to rounding. Don’t worry about this. There are several easy fixes, but it is not a problem you need to deal with. If you are withing a penny, don’t stress further. I have seen one other problem with Form Letter. If you letter gets too big- Perhaps the limit is 256 characters, the code might stop working. Again, evolve your code. If you can get 4 inputs to work in your letter and not the 5th, you might have this problem. Contact me if you do. In the interim, you can shorten your letter and it should work. Come with questions on Website/FormLetter/Change in class for Wednesday. Check the To Do list carefully, and in particular, read carefully, comtemplate, and prepare for Seminar. We will see if we can leave it as open as possible, but this will be determined by your preparation and quality of discussion.
April 4: Make sure you check all the entries in this post when you check in here every other day or so in order to keep up to date. I still have not received emails from some of you, which is a big problem. Also, I need you to add me to your gchat contact list so I can see you online and help online. I will not intervene in the Forum discussions. If you want help from me, email me directly or catch me online. Google has made some changes to hangouts/chat, so let me know if you are having problems or have an alternative. Make sure you are finished with all the old To Do items and are working on your April 1 To Do list items. I will need the Ch 1 review questions, for example, from ALL of you before class on Monday. You will not be able to catch back up if you get behind now, so just decide.. Yes or No.. 1 or 0.. to keep current. In that sense, be a digital student. We will have a quiz at the start of class on Monday, so let me know via email if you must be late, and see me right away when you arrive. We will at times have a quiz at the end of class also, so do not miss these exams either. You should have questions ready for your Personal Website and Form Letter. This week we will have several new programs, and start on our first big one, Tic Tac Toe.
April 2: Thanks to the 27 folks who were there last night for a good discussion. Just a word about attendance: In particular, the first 6 weeks of the course are critical. After that you can miss a day (at most) as long as you talk to me about make-up work. If a unavoidable problems comes up forcing you to miss, as outlined in the Covenant, you can talk to me about an additional assignment that will require significantly more than the class time missed to complete. What does NOT work is to just not show. That will be a credit issue. Also just not doing an item on the To Do list is a credit issue. Coming late or leaving early is a problem, and must be cleared with me first and a solution found together. I will be taking roll various ways and will be learning your names ASAP. Let’s decide to do the program right and take responsibility so everyone wins.
Again, check this page at least every other day. Especially early on there may be technological issues or other problem that will be addressed. When you are working on the Personal Website in HTML or the Form Letter program in JavaScript, make sure you make a note of where you are confused or have questions so you can raise them in class. Remember to add me to your gchat contacts so that I can see you online. I will be on gmail looking to help from time to time. Add others in the class there also. Gchat is a nice tool, but you can use skype or whatever else also. Check the About Me forum and read about other students in the class. Reply to them if you might want to work with them in person or online. Finally, make sure you email me directly with problems as they occur. Enjoy your Easter weekend!