CSC B63: Announcements


Monday, 7 May 2007

Unofficial grades posted
The final exam marks and unofficial course grades are now posted on the Marks page. Remember, grades are not final until approved and posted to ROSI, but they shouldn't be too different from what I posted here.
I hope you had a good term, and have a great summer!


Thursday, 3 May 2007

Final exam paper posted
If you're curious about the exam questions, I've posted a copy of the final exam paper at the bottom of the Tests page. I won't be posting solutions, but feel free to email me if you're not sure about your answer. Also, unofficial final grades should be posted in the next day or so.


Friday, 27 April 2007

Term marks
All term marks (except any pending A4 or A5 remarks) have been posted to the Online Marks Posting. Please verify your marks to ensure they are all recorded correctly, as they will become final once the exam is written. If you have any pending remarks (prior to A4) remaining, please let me know right away.


Monday, 23 April 2007

Remaining pre-exam office hours
Here are my remaining two scheduled office hours (and a date typo in the previous announcement is corrected). Please note the change of start time on April 30 half-an-hour later due to a research talk downtown (I'll stay later if there's interest).


Sunday, 22 April 2007

A5 programming portion marked
Marks and the tester are posted in the usual places.


Sunday, 15 April 2007

A5 written portion marked
The written portion of A5 will be available for return during office hours starting this week. The marks have been posted online.


Wednesday, 11 April 2007

A4 programming marks and tester posted
The A4 programming portion (and A4 total) marks are now posted. The tester we used is now available from the Assignments page.


Friday, 6 April 2007

Final exam details
Additional details on the final exam (and a couple past exams for you to use for studying) have been posted to the Tests page.

Exam week office hours
As discussed in class, I will hold office hours at the following times during exams:

Bring any course questions or past exam questions. If a lot of students come, we can turn it into a review/study session. (Watch here for any changes or additional times... I'm establishing these time based on student requests.) Good luck!


Monday, 2 April 2007

Lecture notes for graphs, searches posted
The lecture notes for weeks 8 and 9 are finally posted on the Lectures page.


Sunday, 1 April 2007

Extra A5 office hour
As promised, I'll be available for an extra office hour Monday morning, April 2, about 11am-12pm, for any of your A5 questions (or anything else about the course).

Also, since I won't be holding a regular set of office hours during exams, let me know when you would like me to hold office hours between end of classes and our final exam. I'll post times here based on student demand.


Friday, 23 March 2007

A5 posted
All parts of assignment 5 have now been posted to the Assignments page. Try to start early, before all your other coursework is also due at the end of the term. (The MST algorithm will be covered Monday, and the TSP and approximations will be covered Wednesday--the rest has already been covered.)


Wednesday, 21 March 2007

Comments from the marker regarding w3
I have posted to the Assignments page some comments made by the marker regarding the written portion of A3.

Marks posted for programming portion of A3
As the title says. The tester we used has also been posted to the Assignments page. Note that the written portion was generally poorly done, which is why the class average for A3 is around 50%. I'm sure this blip will be corrected in the remaining term work and the final exam, so I'm not too concerned (as long as everyone works on learning how to compute expectations!).

Are you concerned about a poor mark on A3? Read the sample solutions, and reread your notes and the text. Come ask me questions with things you don't understand. In general, I'm more interested in you learning the covered material by the end of the course, than whether you had a hard time with one assignment. So if you show me on the final exam that you've learned the course material well, I'll give you credit for that when computing your final grade. (I'm not allowed to throw the mark away, but I can be convinced that it might not be an accurate representation of your knowledge, and make suitable adjustments to your grade. If you work hard you can still get a good course grade.)
Remember that if you're ever concerned about how well you're doing in a class (mine or another class), use my office hours to get extra help -- I want you to succeed! I guarantee an extra grade point if you visit regularly and put in effort! (* offer not valid for A+ students)


Monday, 19 March 2007

Error in MT solution for Q1c
One of your classmates noticed that my sample solution for Q1c on the midterm is incorrect. However, the midterms were marked correctly. The sample solution has now been corrected.


Sunday, 18 March 2007

Marks posted for MT, w3
The Online Marks posting has been updated with the midterm marks and marks for the written portion of A3. Many students had a lot of difficulty with expectations--if that includes you, you should consider working through some old exam problems and/or come see me.
Be sure also to read and understand the sample solutions I have posted, and come see me if you have any trouble understanding them.


Monday, 12 March 2007

BFS computes shortest paths proof
A sketch of the proof for today's theorem that BFS computes the shortest paths from s has been posted to the Lectures page, under notes for this week. I think it's a little easier to read than the CLRS version.


Thursday, 8 March 2007

A4 written, A3 solutions posted
The written component of A4 has now been posted to the Assignments page.
Also, the A3 solutions are up.


Monday, 5 March 2007

A2 tester posted
The tester we used for the programming portion of A2 is now posted on the Assignments page. The marks for the A2 programming component are now included on the Online Marks.

Midterm solutions posted
Sample solutions for the midterm are now posted on the Tests page.


Thursday, 1 March 2007

What happens to the midterm if the campus closes again?
If the severe weather persists and the campus is closed or classes are cancelled Friday evening, the midterm test will be cancelled and rescheduled for next week. Assume the midterm will be held as scheduled, unless otherwise announced on the UTSC webpage or here.


Wednesday, 28 February 2007

Final exam schedule posted
The Registrar has now posted the final exam schedule. I won't tell you when the exam is, just in case I make a mistake (I don't want to send you to the wrong spot and make you miss the exam). Please check the registrar's schedule for the official place and time.


Monday, 26 February 2007

A2 written component marks posted
The marks for the written part of A2 have now been posted to the online marks posting. They will be returned this week (hopefully today). Be sure to read (and understand) the sample solutions posted on the Assignments page. The programming portion should be marked shortly.


Tuesday, 20 February 2007

A3 programming portion posted
The programming question for assignment 3 is now posted in the usual place. Apologies for the delay.

Reading Week Office hours cancelled
A reminder that my office hours tomorrow are cancelled due to Reading Week. I'm still answering questions via email. I'll hold office hours again once everyone is back from the break.


Friday, 16 February 2007

A3 written portion posted
The questions for the written part of A3 have now been posted to the Assignments page. The programming question will be posted next week.

A2 written solutions
Sample solutions to the written portion of A2 have been posted to the Assignments page.


Wednesday, 14 February 2007

Reading Week Office hours cancelled
Due to Reading Week, my regular office hours will be cancelled Feb 21. If you have questions during this time, you can still send me email. To make up for the cancellation, I'll be available Monday Feb 26 morning before class.


Thursday, 8 February 2007

A1 programming part tester
The tester we used for the programming portion of A1 has been posted to the Assignments page. The marks should be posted shortly.


Wednesday, 7 February 2007

Extra A2 office hour Monday; probability tutorial posted
I'll hold an extra office hour for your A2 questions next Monday approximately 11-12.
Also, I have posted the probability review tutorial from this week, in case you're still a little unsure of the average-case analysis we're doing these days.


Sunday, 4 February 2007

A1 written component marks posted
The online marks posting has been enabled and the marks for the written portion of assignment 1 have been added. To access your marks, log in with your student number -- the password is initialized to be your student number, though you should change it when you first log in (to maintain privacy in case someone knows your student number).
The marks for the written and programming components will eventually be combined, and the TOTAL field is a running total of the marks you have earned towards your final grade.
Your written assignemnts will be returned in class this week, while the programming components will probably be returned to you electronically.


Friday, 2 February 2007

A2 posted
The second assignment has now been posted to the Assignments page.


Thursday, 1 February 2007

A1 solutions
Sample solutions to the written portion of assignment 1 have been posted to the Assignments page. Solutions and a tester for the programming question will be posted later once they are perfected by the TA.

Feb 7 Day of Action for public post-secondary education
If you're planning to attend the rally in downtown Toronto on Wednesday, know that the UofT administration is asking faculty to accommodate students unable to meet their academic obligations on Feb 7 as a result of their participation in the Day of Action. We don't have a test or homework scheduled in our class, so just be sure to get the notes if you're away participating in this demonstration.


Sunday, 28 January 2007

Extra office hour time
I'll be available in my office approximately 10:30-12:30 Monday morning if you have any questions regarding the assignment.


Monday, 22 January 2007

Midterm test set
Our midterm test has been set for Friday, 2 March 2007 from 7:00pm to 8:00pm in room SW319. Be sure to mark this on your calendar!

CS Games contest
I just received info about an interesting computer competition happening in Montreal in March 9-11. The CS Games combines theory, programming and gaming into a school-vs.-school contest. It looks like U of T hasn't been one of the 24 schools that participated before, so get 7-10 students together and this might be your chance to make history. More details.


Tuesday, 16 January 2007

A1 posted
The first assignment has been posted to the Assignments page.


Monday, 15 January 2007

Notes posted; downtown colloquium announcement
Notes for the first couple weeks of class are now posted on the Lectures page. These are supplementary/complementary to the lectures and don't replace attendence in class. Use them in case you missed some details in lecture, and use them to guide your textbook reading (for all the details).

Also, tomorrow there is a Distinguished Lecture Series Colloquium downtown that might be interesting. It's by Claire Kenyon-Mathieu and entitled How to rank with few errors. She will consider the problem of how to rank players in a tournament fairly when the answer is not obvious (i.e., when A beat B beat C beat A). It will give you a look at current research problems and directions in the area of computer science we're studying in this course.


Wednesday, 10 January 2007

Lecture room change
Staring Monday, January 15, lectures will now be held in room BV355. This should be a better sized room for us. Tutorials remain unchanged. I'll see you in our new room Monday.


Sunday, 7 January 2007

Tutorials start this week
There will be a tutorial held this Monday, January 8. It will be a review of proving worst-case running time and asymptotic notation, slanted to getting you in practice for solving the types of problems you'll see in this course.


Tuesday, 19 December 2006

Welcome!
Welcome to CSC B63! All course announcements will be posted to this page, in reverse chronological order. Be sure to check back often.


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