CS 475: Formal Models of Computation (Fall 2023)

Announcements

August 03

• Welcome! We're working hard to get everything set up before the semester begins.
• We will use Automata and Computability and Theory of Computation by Dexter Kozen as course textbooks. Electronic copies of these books are available through the University of Illinois library.
• The first lecture is Tuesday, August 22, 2023.
• All announcements will be posted on Campuswire.
• We will use Gradescope for Warm Up and Homework submissions, and Moodle for course total calculations.

Regular weekly schedule

Lectures

Tues Thurs 3:30-4:45pm, 1214 Siebel

Office hours

Tuesdays and Thursdays after class at 4:45pm, and by appointment

Warm Up

Weekly warm up exercises will be released Thursday nights on Gradescope. They will be due the following Monday at midnight. Warm up exercises will consist of a few multiple choice and short answer questions that aim to help improve understanding of the basic concepts introduced that week. Warm up exercises will not be timed. You will not be allowed to attempt a warm up exercise after the deadline has passed. To account for normal disruptions in meeting warm up deadlines, the lowest 4 (3 credit) or 3 (4 credit) warm up scores will be dropped. The schedule of warm up exercises can be found here.

Homework

Homework will be assigned every two weeks on Thursday and will be due two weeks later on Thursday at midnight. They will be released and submitted on Gradescope. Some topics relevant to the homework may be covered in class after the homework is assigned, but all topics relevant to a homework will be covered at least one week before the due date. We expect to have roughly 6 homework assignments. No late homework submissions will be accepted. To account for normal disruptions in meeting homework deadlines, your lowest 2 (3 credit) or just lowest (4 credit) homework grade will be dropped. Homework schedule can be found here.

Grading Policy

Grading Formula

Your course total will be determined as follows.

• 20% Warm Up: We will drop the lowest 4 (3 credit) or 3 (4 credit) warm up scores to account for normal disruptions in meeting warm up deadlines.
• 25% Homework: We will drop the lowest 2 (3 credit) or 1 (4 credit) homework score to account for normal disruptions in meeting homework deadlines.
• 30% Midterms: Each midterm will be worth 15%. They will test competence on material since the previous midterm.
• 25% Final: The final exam will be comprehensive and test the entire course material.

Letter Grades

When translating averages into final letter grades, a score of 90 will be at least an A-, 80 at least a B-, 70 at least a C-, 50 at least a D-. The instructor may change these approximate grade cut-offs to be more generous. The instructor also reserves the right to make adjustments to individual final grades to ensure that grades are appropriate in unusual circumstances, such as illness where it's infeasible to make up all the missed work, disabilities that affect the fairness of the standard grading formula, and so forth.

Credits

Web design: Jeff Erickson.