This page contains ongoing course announcements (including all changes to the website), and is required reading. Please check it regularly.

Fri 22 Apr, 2005 More Typos

The regular expression for A5Q3(a) should have a * around the middle sub-expression. The DNF for A2BQ2(a) has a couple of typos, I'll let you find them.

Thr 21 Apr, 2005 Office Hours

I'll have office hours tomorrow from 3-5pm, and Monday 2-4pm and 6-9pm.

Thr 21 Apr, 2005 Regular Expressions, FSAs and Regular Languages

Notes for them posted in the usual place.

Thr 21 Apr, 2005 Various typos

The DFSA for A5Q1 has been fixed (it now does what the sentence before it claims :)#). Last term's posted exam is not the final version, but a draft; in particular, the first question has its constants wrong. The solutions to A4 have the body of isTautological and LogicallyImplies56 swapped.

Wed 20 Apr, 2005 A5 Solutions Posted

In the usual place.

Fri 15 Apr, 2005 Exam information

Some exam information has been posted on the "Exam and Midterm test" page.

Fri 8 Apr, 2005 Office Hours Today

Some of you have requested extra office hours today. I'll be available 3:30-5.

Wed 6 Apr, 2005 A4 Solutions Posted

In the usual place.

Wed 6 Apr, 2005 A5 Notes

Added a few notes about A5 to the assignments page.

Tue 5 Apr, 2005 A5 Q2(a)

You may use 7 states, if the 7th one is a dead state.

Mon 4 Apr, 2005 Current Marks Posted

There's a new menu item on the left.

Thr 31 Mar, 2005 Assignment 2c/5 Posted

In the usual place.

Mon 28 Mar, 2005 More A2b/4 Suggestions

In office hours today it seemed some of you weren't properly prepared. So some of you may still be stuck for that reason; if so, read the new hints on the Assignments page.

Mon 28 Mar, 2005 A2b/4 Late Penalty Extension

The late penalty of 25% will apply to any questions handed in by Thursday's lecture.

Fri 25 Mar, 2005 Midterm Solutions

Posted on the "Midterm test and exam" page.

Fri 25 Mar, 2005 TA Office Hours Next Week

There will be a TA in BA 3234 M10-11, M4-5 and T10.

Fri 25 Mar, 2005 More about A2b/4

Updated the notes on the Assignments page.

Thr 24 Mar, 2005 A2b/4 Hint

Added a hint on the Assignments page for showing LEQV.

Wed 23 Mar, 2005 A2b/4 Correction

In PropositionalFormula, toString should be abstract.

Wed 23 Mar, 2005 Page 2 of Solutions to A2a/3 Posted

In the usual place.

Sat 19 Mar, 2005 A2b/4 Due Date

As discussed in lecture, we're setting the due date for Tuesday the 29th of March, by start of lecture.

Thr 17 Mar, 2005 Predicate Logic Notes Posted

In the usual place.

Thr 17 Mar, 2005 Page 1 of Solutions to A2a/3 Posted

In the usual place. The second page awaits one student's late submission with special consideration.

Wed 16 Mar, 2005 Notes on Interaction of Syntax and Semantics of Propositional Logic Posted

In the usual place.

Wed 16 Mar, 2005 Notes on Semantics of Propositional Logic Posted

In the usual place.

Wed 16 Mar, 2005 Notes on Syntax of Propositional Logic Posted

In the usual place.

Tue 15 Mar, 2005 Assignment 2B/4 Posted

In the usual place.

Mon 14 Mar, 2005 More Thoughts About Loop Invariants

Every time CSC236/238 is/was taught, many students have/had trouble coming up with loop invariants. As I mentioned, part of the difficulty is that it is as difficult as programming itself: there is no recipe to program/understand a loop, so there is no recipe to express the loop invariant.

But as I suggested on the newsgroup, some students are having trouble even once they trace and understand the loop. So I'm trying something out in CSC165 to see how hard this part `really' is, and whether the context of program correctness and inductive proof is distracting students in CSC236. Take a look at the first question in Assignment 4 of CSC165. Try to pretend you have no idea why I asked it :)#, and see how difficult you find it. I suspect that some students will find this easier by not thinking about where the x's and y's come from.

Thr 10 Mar, 2005 Assignment 2A/3 Extension Extended

A number of UTM students can't come in on Mondays, so I'm extending the handing in of the remaining two question to next Tuesday at the beginning of lecture. You may put it in the drop box or give it to me in lecture.

Wed 9 Mar, 2005 Assignment 2A/3 Notes

I've posted some notes about the assignment on the Assignments page.

Tue 8 Mar, 2005 Office hours tomorrow

I will have office hours tomorrow at 10. The TAs will have office hours at 11-12 and 1:30-2:30, in BA 3234.

Tue 8 Mar, 2005 Assignment 2A/3 Extension

There was a lot of support for an extension when I asked in today's lecture. But to be fair to the students who put a lot of thought into it already, we'll do the following: you may choose any three questions to submit on Thursday, and the remaining two you may hand in by next Monday at Noon. I will not discuss the assignment between Thursday and Monday.

Sun 6 Mar, 2005 Midterm Marks Adjustment

I will be adding 2 marks to the midterms (after the bonus) and taking it out of 22 instead of 24. This may be a slightly conservative adjustment, brining the class average to 66.7%.

Sun 27 Feb, 2005 More Lecture Notes Posted

In the usual place.

Sun 27 Feb, 2005 Added Another Office Hour

R2.

Sun 27 Feb, 2005 Next Assignment Posted

In the usual place. Both parts are due next Thursday March 10 at 10am (no one used the late penalty for A1, so let's give everyone an extra day for this assignment).

Tuesday 22 Feb, 2005 Midterm Test Location

It will be in your usual tutorial room.

Tuesday 22 Feb, 2005 Extra Office Hours

By request, I will have extra office hours tomorrow from 1-3.

Monday 21 Feb, 2005 More Tutorial Notes

I've posted the tutorial notes that a couple of students requested.

Sunday 20 Feb, 2005 Previous Midterms

I've posted the previous midterms that I could find, on a new page "Midterm Test and Exam". I don't have solutions to them, so I suggest you post your solutions on the newsgroup for discussion.

Thursday 10 Feb, 2005 Midterm Coverage

The midterm will cover material up to and including the basics of iterative program correctness. For program correctness, questions at the difficulty level of the remainder example from lecture and the 3^n example from tutorial would be appropriate.

Thursday 10 Feb, 2005 A1 Solutions

Posted on the Assignments page.

Tuesday 8 Feb, 2005 A1 Notes

The Assignments page now has the notes on A1 from a previous announcement, with some additions inspired by your questions these last few days.

Monday 7 Feb, 2005 TA office hours

There will be a TA in BA3234 tomorrow from 11-12, and 3-6.

Monday 7 Feb, 2005 Assignment Submission Instructions

Submission instructions have been put on the Assignments page.

Sunday 6 Feb, 2005 Program Correctness Notes

Some have been posted.

Sunday 6 Feb, 2005 Typos in Last Lecture Notes

I fixed some typos where I had used n instead of m when talking about n % m. I noticed them while trying to prove the remainder algorithm correct: once again proof is our friend :)#.

Sunday 6 Feb, 2005 More Lecture Notes

In the usual place.

Thursday 3 Feb, 2005 More Lecture Notes

In the usual place.

Tuesday 1 Feb, 2005 Brief notes about A1

Question 1: in case the meaning is not clear, the "exists c" is outside/before the "for all n".

Question 2: in lecture we saw a (harder?) example of induction for a claim involving two variables.

Question 3: by non-trivial I mean something that someone won't look at and immediately say "of course they're equal". Hint: look at some of the algebra from the first tutorial.

Question 4: You may put your answers to all the parts together into one answer.

Question 4(a): I do mean simple; think CSC108.

Question 4(b): I've been emphasizing that your predicates in induction should `return a boolean', but there is something more appropriate here, since you are using the result that P is true, not proving it. Notice that P is an existential statement. (By the way, I got so caught up today checking people's predicates for the other questions and in CSC165 that I forgot the point of 4(b) when advising one of you at office hours).

Monday 24 Jan, 2005 Prerequisites and Waivers

The CS Undergraduate Office has just told me that the students they were concerned about are all at UTM, and so CSC165 will be waived as a prerequisite. You do not have to email me about this.

Monday 24 Jan, 2005 Assignment 1 Posted

See "Assignments" in the menu at the left.

Monday 24 Jan, 2005 Prerequisites and Waivers

(See the more recent announcement today) Four students do not have CSC165 and do not have a waiver from me, so the CS Undergraduate Office may remove you from the course any time now. It may be possible to still give you a waiver: you must email me immediately explaining why you do not have CSC165 and why you think you should still be allowed to take CSC236.

Monday 17 Jan, 2005 Added "Tutorials" Section to Website

See the menu at the left.

Monday 17 Jan, 2005 Assignment 1 Postponed

I have been quite ill since last Thursday, so the first assignment will only come out later this week. The due date will be extended.

Monday 17 Jan, 2005 Added "Tutorials" Section to Website

See the menu at the left.

Sunday 16 Jan, 2005 Updated Lecture Notes

In the usual place.

Sunday 16 Jan, 2005 Updated Office Hours

The office hours in the "Getting Help" section have been updated based on your feedback last Thursday.

Wednesday 12 Jan, 2005 Office Hours

Some office hours have now been posted in the Contact page after finding out what is convenient for my CSC165 students. More hours will be added after we discuss times convenient for you (CSC236 students) tomorrow in lecture.

Wednesday 12 Jan, 2005 Tutorial Rooms

Tutorial rooms are as follows: 

        Given (last) name starts with A-M: BA 3008
                                      N-Z: BA 3012