COMP9020 Notices

Assignment marks available (finally!)

Posted by Paul Hunter Tuesday 01 September 2020, 10:31:51 AM.

Hi all,

I have finally managed to get your assignment marks onto the system - unfortunately I haven't managed to work things so that you can "collect" your assignments (that is a whole other headache).

Please check your marks through webCMS or sturec and get back to me if you believe there have been any gross omissions.

I will not be making the final exam mark available - it is against school policy to release final marks before the university has made the results available to all - these should be sent to you via email on Friday.

I hope you enjoyed the course, despite the difficult conditions we find ourselves in at the moment.

Paul

Exam: one hour remaining

Posted by Paul Hunter Tuesday 18 August 2020, 07:59:11 AM.

Hi all,

This is a brief message to remind you that the deadline for exam submission is in one hour.

Paul

Final exam now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 17 August 2020, 08:59:30 AM.

Hi all,

The final exam is now available here: https://webcms3.cse.unsw.edu.au/COMP9020/20T2/reso...

Please contact me asap if you are having any difficulties accessing it. For security reasons you may need to enter your zID and zPass (possibly several times - I'm not sure why).

A reminder that the deadline is 9am (Sydney time), Tuesday 18th August - i.e. 24 hours from now.

You can submit as many times as you like before the deadline - so it is in your interest to submit your progress regularly and often.

I have increased the alllowable submission size to 20Mb - but keep in mind this is a limit, not a goal.

I will be available on Collaborate, email and answering any questions that come up on the course forums for the next two hours. Any questions after that time I will answer as soon as possible, but there may be a small delay. Any issues that are pertinent to the whole cohort I will send out as a course-wide notification, so please keep an eye on where you receive these notifications.

All the best,

Paul

Exam details

Posted by Paul Hunter Wednesday 12 August 2020, 04:06:10 AM.

Details of the final exam were given in today's lecture. This notification summarises the key points and provides a common reference for the exam details.

Administrivia

• The final exam is a 24-hour take-home exam
• The exam will be made available on the course website at Monday 17 August, at 9am (AEST)
• The deadline for submitting your solutions is Tuesday 18 August, at 9am (AEST)
• Submission should be either a single pdf file, or a zipped folder of jpegs, and is to be made through webCMS/give. Emailed solutions are not acceptable unless there is ongoing issues with the server.
• Submissions need to be legible, and should not be larger than 15Mb. Typeset prose is preferred, but not required.
• Multiple submissions are ok - you will be assessed on the last submission received before the deadline
• Late submissions will be penalized at 25% (of raw mark) per 15 minutes or part thereof . There is no grace period - it is your responsibility to allow for (minor) network issues such as upload times.
• If you experience any issue that will prevent you from attempting/completing the exam, you need to apply for Special Consideration . For foreseeable issues, the application needs to be made prior to the exam. If you experience technical issues before or during the exam, you should follow these instructions:
  • Take screenshots of as many of the following as possible:
    • error messages
    • screen not loading
    • timestamped speed tests
    • power outage maps
    • messages or information from your internet provider regarding the issues experienced
  • All screenshots must include the date and time the issue occurred.
  • Make contact with me immediately (through email or Collaborate chat) and advise me of the issue.
  • Submit a Special Consideration application immediately at the conclusion of your assessment and upload your screenshots.
• I will be available through email/forums/Collaborate from 9am-11am on Monday to answer any questions about the exam. I will be able to answer questions at other times on Monday, but there may be a delay in my response.

Exam content and materials

• The final exam will contribute 50% of your overall grade; and you must achieve 40% on the exam to pass the course
• The exam consists of 10 equally weighted questions, covering the 9 major topics of the course:
  • Number theory
  • Sets
  • Relations and Functions
  • Recursion and Induction
  • Algorithmic Analysis
  • Logic
  • Graph Theory
  • Combinatorics
  • Probability
• You are being assessed on your ability and understanding . Your solutions should aim to demonstrate these qualities to the best of your ability.
• Your submitted work must be your own . Any student found accessing or attempting to access active sources (e.g. collaborating with other students, actively seeking answers through forums/social media, contract cheating, etc) will be considered to be in breach of the University's Plagiarism Policy , and may be subject to disciplinary action as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct .
  
• Any existing written material (i.e. passive sources ) is permitted for reference, but should be properly referenced (i.e. referenced so that I can retrieve it). Care should be exercised when using external references: over-reliance on external references (e.g. just citing a source that provides the solution) will negatively affect the level of ability/understanding you are demonstrating; on the other hand, failure to adequately reference or paraphrase external references may be considered a breach of the University's Plagiarism Policy .

Consultation times

• I will be available for online consultation (through Collaborate) at the following times:
  • Thursday, Aug 13, 8pm AEST
  • Friday, Aug 14, 8pm AEST
    

Quiz 6 available

Posted by Paul Hunter Saturday 18 July 2020, 05:56:51 PM.

Hi all,

Quiz 6 is now available, due 4pm on Monday .

As there are questions about algorithmic analysis, there are some questions that involve some simple code. The code should be fairly straightforward - analysis of the commands used were discussed in lectures, but please get in touch if you are unsure about any of the syntax.

Paul

Quiz 5, Q10 solution correction

Posted by Paul Hunter Wednesday 15 July 2020, 09:16:21 AM.

Hi all,

It has occurred to me that the solution given for Q10 in Quiz 5 is not correct. The argument I made on Monday was that "Showing P(E₁) or P(E₂) implies P((E₁∪E₂)) is not enough - you should show P(E₁) and P(E₂) implies P((E₁∪E₂))". However, "P(E₁) or P(E₂) implies P((E₁∪E₂))" is a stronger statement than "P(E₁) and P(E₂) implies P((E₁∪E₂))" - in other words, it might not be possible to show "P(E₁) or P(E₂) implies P((E₁∪E₂))", but if you do show it, then it is good enough. So the correct answer is true: P(E) will hold for all expressions E.

I will update the quiz marks and quiz feedback to reflect this.

Paul

Today's consultation rescheduled

Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 13 July 2020, 09:26:47 AM.

Hi all,

I will not be able to make today's online consultation at 12, so I have rescheduled it to tomorrow at 12. Today's lecture will still proceed at 4pm as usual.

Sorry for the inconvenience,

Paul

Quiz 5 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Saturday 11 July 2020, 04:30:00 PM.

Hi all,

Quiz 5 is now available. It is due at 4pm, Monday July 13.

Paul

Assignment 2 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Sunday 05 July 2020, 04:24:03 AM.

Hi all,

The second assignment is now available. It is due at 12:00 noon, Tuesday 21 July (Sydney time).

Paul

Quiz 4 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Saturday 27 June 2020, 04:00:53 PM.

Hi all,

Quiz 4 is now available. It is due at 4pm on Monday June 29 .

Paul

Week 4 Challenge and Practice questions

Posted by Paul Hunter Wednesday 24 June 2020, 11:45:57 PM.

Hi all,

I have posted the Challenge question for this week. It consists of a series of (tricky) proof exercises and is set up in the recently posted Proof Assistant tool - though you do not have to use the system to attempt the challenge. For this challenge there is no option to submit (yet) - this may change if I get a chance to update the Proof Assistant to handle feedback.

I have also posted the first of several sets of Practice Questions, and their solutions. These questions are intended to give you an indication of the knowledge/ability I expect you to have at the conclusion of the course (i.e. they are roughly the level of difficulty of exam questions). Completion of these questions is completely optional. Please make use of them to identify any potential weak areas you may have, and feel free to ask about any concepts/solutions that you don't understand.

Paul

Quiz 3 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Saturday 20 June 2020, 04:44:24 AM.

Hi all,

The third quiz is now available. It is due at 4pm on Monday .

Paul

Assignment 1 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 15 June 2020, 02:31:05 AM.

Hi all,

The first assignment is now available from the course website. It is due at 12 noon (Sydney time), Tuesday, June 30th.

I will discuss it briefly in Monday's lecture.

Paul

Challenge 2 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Thursday 11 June 2020, 12:06:16 AM.

Hi all,

The second Challenge question is now available. It has changed slightly from a version that was made available earlier today - apologies to anyone that has been working on the old version.

A reminder that the challenge problems are entirely optional.

Paul

Quiz 1 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Saturday 06 June 2020, 12:21:55 AM.

Hi all,

The first quiz is now available under "Activities" on the course website.

The quiz is due at 4pm, Monday 8th June (even though there is no lecture on Monday).

You may make multiple submissions - you will be marked on the latest submission before the deadline.

Paul

Consultation recordings

Posted by Paul Hunter Thursday 04 June 2020, 08:53:57 PM.

Hi all,

Tonight's consultation was recorded.

To access the recording (available shortly):

• Navigate to the course's Collaborate classroom by following the link in the menu.
• Under the hamburger menu (≡) in the top left there is a menu item "Recordings"
• From there you can see all the recordings of the sessions.
• I answered questions posted in the chat - to see the chat during a recording playback, select the chevron icon (<<) in the bottom right

Paul

Challenge 1

Posted by Paul Hunter Thursday 04 June 2020, 09:36:49 AM.

Hi all,

The first of the Challenge questions is now available on the course website, under "Additional material" in the sidebar menu.

A reminder that the Challenge questions are entirely optional - they are not graded, and there is no penalty for not attempting them. They are intended to explore the course topics in greater depth.

I have set up this week's question to provide automatic feedback when you submit your answer (through give). It will be available throughout the course, so you may attempt it at any time.

Enjoy!

Paul

Welcome to COMP9020

Posted by Paul Hunter Friday 29 May 2020, 08:58:02 PM.

Hi all,

Welcome to COMP9020 - Foundations of Computer Science. This is just a brief announcement to introduce you to various aspects of the course: the website, the learning interfaces, and the staff (me).

This term COMP9020 will be delivered completely online. I encourage you to familiarise yourself with the course website:

http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs9020

as it provides the starting point for all aspects of the course.

Lectures begin next Monday (June 1) and will be delivered in real time on Zoom. Details of the lectures can be found on the course website once you have logged in to webCMS. If you do not yet have your zID/zPassword set up, please contact me directly (contact details can be found through the Course Outline page). Lectures will be recorded, and the recording will be available shortly after the lecture finishes.

There are no tutorials or classes for this course.

In lieu of office hours, I have set up online consultation hours twice a week. These are intended to be student-driven and generally group-based. The course forums also provide a platform to ask questions and discuss the course material.

There is currently a pre-course, one-question questionnaire available here . It is by no means compulsory, and there is no right/wrong answer - I am primarily interested to see how (if at all) your perspective changes after taking this course.

Looking forward to meeting you on Monday,

Paul Hunter
(Lecturer in Charge)