COMP9020 Notices

Thank you

Posted by Paul Hunter Friday 01 September 2023, 12:57:03 PM.

Hi all,

Thank you all for a fantastic term of COMP9020. I love engaging with my students, and it was great to see so many of you still coming to the lectures and consultations at the pointy end of the term - we had upwards of 20% of the cohort coming to the final lectures by the end (who knew so many of you would be willing to listen to me waffle for hours). Thank you for the positive and constructive feedback - I'm going to be spending the next week getting myself organised to do it all again next term with a special focus on the comments you all sent through.

Your assignment, formatif and [updated] quiz marks should now be viewable on sturec:

https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~give/Student/sturec.php

Please let me know if there are any major omissions - although these are the marks that were submitted for your final grade, it is still possible to make amendments for significant omissions even after your grades have been released.

I am always happy to answer any questions you have about any assessment grade.

Before we finish with the course, there is one last (one-question) poll for you. When filling it out, have a think about where you were at the start of the term, and what (if anything) you've learned from this course - big picture ideas, rather than things like "what a reflexive relation is"... I'd love to hear your thoughts (ed/email/in person/scrawled in icing on a chocolate cake).

There are two things I personally hope you take away from the course:

• I hope you now feel prepared to be able to ask and/or answer "why?" - e.g. "why does Python use Timsort?"; "why do we learn recursion?"; or "why does this algorithm work?". And I hope you use this to help add some insight into your other courses.
• You are not alone.

All the best in your future endeavours,

Assignment 1 solutions and Sample questions video

Posted by Paul Hunter Saturday 12 August 2023, 11:17:32 AM.

Hi all,

I've uploaded the solutions for Assignment 1 to the course website (under Course Work → Assignments)

I've posted a video of a walkthrough of the sample problems from the lectures (the examples at the end of the Algorithmic Analysis lecture, and the examples at the end of the Course Review lecture) - this can be found under "Lecture Recordings → Lecture 17 additional content".

There are still some outstanding Assignment 2 submissions, so solutions for that will be delayed until these are submitted, and I'll post the quiz solutions later today.

Paul

Sample inspera exam available

Posted by Paul Hunter Friday 11 August 2023, 10:21:43 PM.

Hi all,

I have enabled a sample exam in inspera (this is the exam from T3 2022). I don't currently have solutions written up for this, but if I can find some time I will try to write some up.

Questions and solutions from the exam in T2 2022 are also available on the course website (under Additional Material → Sample exams).

Paul

Final exam start time

Posted by Paul Hunter Friday 11 August 2023, 10:51:55 AM.

Hi all,

I have confirmed with the exams team that you can start the exam at any point in the window which it is open and your exam will end after 3 hours 15 minutes or 12:00 (whichever comes first). So you can start the exam at any time between 7:45 and 8:45 without losing any exam time.

Paul

Q&A Lecture today (and pizza!)

Posted by Paul Hunter Wednesday 09 August 2023, 09:21:12 AM.

Hi all,

This is just a reminder about the additional lecture today where I will cover exam details, review the course, and answer any questions you have. It will be at 12 - 2 in Ainsworth G03 (i.e. usual time & place for Wednesday lectures).

To celebrate making it through the term, I have arranged for pizzas in the foyer outside the lecture room from 11:30 onwards . Even if you can't make the lecture, come along to celebrate making it through the course...

Paul

Extraordinary consultation Monday

Posted by Paul Hunter Sunday 06 August 2023, 08:23:27 PM.

Hi all,

I haven't been able to contribute as much as I would have liked to the consultations for the current assignment, so I will be holding an additional consultation - online - tomorrow (Monday) at 2pm. The link is the same as for the regular consultation meetings (available on the course website).

Paul

Quiz, Assignment 2, Lecture examples

Posted by Paul Hunter Sunday 06 August 2023, 04:57:39 PM.

Hi all,

The tenth and final quiz is now available in inspera and on the course website . Like the assignment, it will be due at 12 noon on Wednesday 9th August (AEST) .

The inspera page for the second assignment is also now available it is also due at 12 noon on Wednesday 9th August (AEST) . I will post a guide to the questions separately (shortly). Questions 3(a) and (b) should be out of 4 marks rather than 3.

I have also added a recording of the material not fully covered in Friday's lecture (e.g. examples and conditional probability). Note that only material covered in the lectures is considered assessable.

Paul

Post-lecture 13 content

Posted by Paul Hunter Wednesday 02 August 2023, 08:19:05 AM.

Hi all,

In order to be able to cover the remaining topics this week, I did a recording to cover the logic content remaining from Friday's lecture. This recording is available under "Lecture Recordings - Lecture 13 additional content" (immediately after the recording of Friday's lecture).

I realise the material at the end of the lecture was sped through quite quickly, so I also went over that content at a more measured pace. The material I didn't get to in the lecture is also covered in the additional recording - though this was mostly some worked examples, and content that serves to place the concepts in a wider CS context.

Paul

Quiz 9 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 31 July 2023, 03:32:06 PM.

Hi all,

Quiz 9 is now available on the course website and in inspera . It is due at 12 noon on Wednesday August 2 (AEST) .

Paul

Extraordinary consultation tonight (Thursday)

Posted by Paul Hunter Thursday 27 July 2023, 04:45:49 PM.

Hi all,

There will be an extraordinary (online) consultation tonight, 7pm - 8pm . The link is available on the course website.

Paul

Quiz 8 available (extended deadline)

Posted by Paul Hunter Tuesday 25 July 2023, 04:49:22 PM.

Hi all,

Apologies for delays - I've had to deal with a family emergency over the weekend.

The eighth quiz is now available in inspera and on the course website. While I recommend completing the quiz before tomorrow's lecture (as we are moving onto a new topic), the deadline for the quiz will be extended to Friday 28 July, 12 noon .

The questions for assignment 2 will be made available on the course website shortly.

Paul

Quiz 7 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 17 July 2023, 03:16:59 PM.

Hi all,

I don't think you've had enough time with the inspera platform this week, so this is just a reminder that you can spend a bit longer with this week's quiz!

Quiz 7 is now available on the course website and in inspera . It is due at 12pm on Wednesday 19th July .

Paul

Assignment 1 guide and inspera platform now active

Posted by Paul Hunter Friday 14 July 2023, 10:42:24 AM.

Hi all,

The guide for Assignment 1 is now available on the course website (under Course work → Assignments). I strongly suggest reviewing the document (even if you have completed the questions) as it highlights what is expected of you and common errors students tend to make.

The inspe ra page for the assignment is also available, so you can now submit your solutions. Please make all submissions through inspera - emailed submissions will not be accepted unless there are extenuating circumstances.

A reminder that submissions are due by 12 noon, Monday 17th July (AEST) . If you are making a submission beyond this deadline, please notify me as I have to enable a late submission in inspera.

Paul

Quiz 6 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 10 July 2023, 02:16:15 PM.

Hi all,

Quiz 6 is now available through inspera , or on the course website . It is due at 12 noon on Wednesday July 12 .

A reminder to attempt the Challenge problem before the lecture on Wednesday for your chance at an extension for Assignment 1 (you are currently only 30% of the way there).

Paul

Friday lecture and Assignment 1 extension(s)

Posted by Paul Hunter Friday 07 July 2023, 09:59:08 AM.

Hi all,

This is just to confirm that today's lecture will be on as usual - same time same place.

I want to add a "Guide to Assignment 1" to the first assignment before activating the inspera portal (once I've activated the assignment I cannot change any settings) - so the inspera site is not yet up (should be up shortly). However you can still work on the questions offline. Because you haven't had much of a chance to see the inspera version of the assignment and this guide, I'll push back the assignment deadline to Monday 17th July (12 noon) .

There is an opportunity for a further extension (see this week's lecture slides ) if more than half of you (i.e. 100 students) complete the Challenge - Note: this is supposed to be a collaborative effort - it is you the students vs me - so I encourage you to post solutions/hints/whatever across all means necessary to collectively complete the challenge.

Good luck!

Paul

Wednesday lecture not recorded

Posted by Paul Hunter Wednesday 05 July 2023, 12:11:09 PM.

Hi all,

The Wednesday lecture is not scheduled for recording. So I will not introduce any new content. I hope to get the recording for Friday up and running, so Friday's lecture will occur as usual.

Paul

Quiz 5 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Sunday 02 July 2023, 03:42:51 PM.

Hi all,

The fifth quiz, due on Wednesday July 5 at 12 noon (AEST) is now available on inspera.

Paul

Assignment 1 questions now viewable

Posted by Paul Hunter Sunday 02 July 2023, 06:58:55 AM.

Hi all,

The questions for the first assignment are now available on the course website (under Course work → Assignments) so you can begin working on them. The inspera version of the assignment will be activated shortly, and I will also add a guide with examples and expectations.

Paul

Quiz 4 now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 26 June 2023, 08:49:20 AM.

Hi all,

The fourth quiz is now available on the course website and in inspera . It is due at 12 noon on Wednesday 28 June (AEST) .

Due to technical issues, I haven't yet managed to get the first assignment out. It should be out later today.

Paul

Quiz 3 errata and corrections

Posted by Paul Hunter Friday 23 June 2023, 03:31:01 PM.

Hi all,

There were a couple of minor issues with the third quiz:

• T1: It is certainly not the case that (A⊕B)ᶜ = Aᶜ ⊕ Bᶜ [they are in fact complements of one another].
• M1: I think (I can't find a record of exactly what I wrote) I posted to the quiz some incorrect information regarding this question. As X is a language, X² should be taken to be XX (i.e. the concatenation of X with itself), not X⁼² and not X×X. The notation Σ⁼² only applies when Σ is a set of symbols (it describes the language {w∈Σ* : length(w)=2}). And as the question is about languages, the use of Cartesian product is not appropriate (the only time we would see a Cartesian product of languages, would be when defining relations or functions between languages [and in those cases, the language would almost always be Σ*]). When we correctly take X² to be XX, then the result is indeed false - for example with X={0} (X*)² contains 0 whereas (X²)* does not.

Because of the inadvertent misinformation, I will not count the result of M1 in your final score for the quiz - that is, the quiz will be marked out of 9 instead of 10.

Paul

Quiz 3 available

Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 19 June 2023, 09:00:54 AM, last modified Monday 19 June 2023, 09:01:04 AM.

Hi all,

The third quiz is now available from either the course website (under Quizzes ) or by directly logging into inspera . It is due at 12 noon (AEST) on Wednesday 21 June .

Paul

Proof assistant for formatif tasks

Posted by Paul Hunter Sunday 18 June 2023, 06:27:54 PM.

Hi all,

I have set up the Proof Assistant with the formatif tasks (and one additional practice problem). The link can be found on the course website under " Proof Assistant → Formatif tasks"

I strongly recommend using the assistant to try at least one of the P/C/D tasks - especially if you have attempted the proof without the tool - as it will help you identify any issues with your proof.

There are a couple of features that are not currently implemented in the Proof Assistant:

• Ability to do more than one non-overlapping application of the same rule
• Uniqueness of complement
• Principle of duality, and
• Defining your own problems

While it is technically possible to complete the HD-level task in the proof assistant, without these features, the HD-level task is difficult (take this as a hint as to what you might need to do).

Feel free to take a screenshot of your proof (or partial proof) for your formatif submission. It will certainly make marking a lot easier.

I hope to add a few more practice problems over the next 24 hours, so you can have a go at different problems to get used to the process.

Paul

Second batch of formatif tasks available

Posted by Paul Hunter Friday 16 June 2023, 11:03:44 AM.

HI all,

The second batch of formatif tasks are now available in formatif - you should aim to complete them by next Wednesday. I am currently working to make the proof assistant available to make the tasks easier to complete (and mark) - hopefully it should be available tonight.

Paul

Quiz 2 errata

Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 12 June 2023, 11:57:18 PM.

Hi all,

A minor error in Quiz 2 (thanks Jiayi Pan):

Question 2(e) M5 should read:

Let Σ={a,b,c} and L={aa,bb,cc}

How many words are there in {w∈Σ* : length(w) ≤ 4} \ L* ?

Paul

Quiz 2 available

Posted by Paul Hunter Monday 12 June 2023, 09:38:44 AM.

Hi all,

The second quiz is now available from either the course website (under Quizzes ) or by directly logging into inspera . It is due at 12 noon (AEST) on Wednesday 14 June .

You should also be able to see your (inspera-based) mark and which questions you correctly answered for the first quiz by revisiting the first quiz in inspera.

Paul

Lecture 4 additional content

Posted by Paul Hunter Sunday 11 June 2023, 09:04:27 AM.

Hi all,

At the conclusion of Friday's lecture I hadn't quite finished the slides, but as the content was nearly complete I recorded the conclusion of the lecture and have posted the recording to the Lecture Recordings .(as "Lecture 4 Additional Content"). In general I will only do this if there is likely to be limited audience interaction, as it is important to me that you have the opportunity to ask questions if you have them.

The content of this recording will be included in the upcoming quiz and formatif tasks, so please review it before Wednesday's lecture. Please post any questions you have to the course forum, or bring them to either of the upcoming consultations.

Paul

Extraordinary consultation tonight

Posted by Paul Hunter Thursday 08 June 2023, 04:17:52 PM.

Hi all,

Apologies for the late notice, but now that you have assessment tasks (e.g. quiz and formatif tasks) going, I am going to run an extraordinary consultation tonight at 8:30pm (AEST) to answer any questions you have - especially with regard to the quiz and the first lot of formatif tasks.

Paul

First formatif tasks now available

Posted by Paul Hunter Wednesday 07 June 2023, 09:15:49 AM.

Hi all,

The first set of formatif tasks are now available in formatif . Some students requested that I go over how formatif works, and I'll post a video detailing the process later this evening.

A couple of reminders:

* if you are aiming for a level other than Pass, you will see the tasks of the lower levels (Pass, Credit, Distinction). You should complete these too, however some may be special cases of the more difficult tasks, so you are more than welcome to refer to your answer(s) in other parts.

* the due date is marked as Monday (AoE) - this means the deadline will lapse once it is no longer Monday anywhere on Earth - this is approximately 10pm on Tuesday (Sydney time). You may request an extension with no penalty, however excessive requests for extensions will raise a flag and the teaching staff will get in touch to see how we can help.

Once again, please contact me asap if you are unable to access the content.

Paul

Quiz 1 available from 12 noon

Posted by Paul Hunter Wednesday 07 June 2023, 09:01:34 AM.

Hi all,

The first quiz will be available from 12 noon today.

To access the quiz, either follow the link from the course webpage (under "Course Work → Quizzes"), or log into inspera ( https://unsw.inspera.com ) and the quiz should appear on your dashboard.

You will have 48 hours to complete the quiz. You can revisit the quiz multiple times during that period and (I believe) resubmit if you submit prior to the deadline. Your quiz will be automatically submitted at 12 noon on Friday, and this submission will be what is marked.

If you have any problems accessing the quiz after 12, please let me know asap.

Paul

Quiz 1 delayed

Posted by Paul Hunter Saturday 03 June 2023, 09:40:36 PM.

Hi all,

Because I don't feel I've covered enough content for the first quiz, I will push it back until Wednesday (due Friday) for this week.

That is, it will be made available at 12 noon on Wednesday, and due at 12 noon on Friday 9th.

Paul

Welcome to COMP9020

Posted by Paul Hunter Tuesday 30 May 2023, 01:14:45 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!).

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 on Wednesday (May 31) [i.e. tomorrow] at 12:00 at Ainsworth G03 (big red room between J17 and K17).

Lectures will be recorded, and the recording will be available shortly after the lecture finishes. No assurance is made about the quality/completeness of the recording - so the only way to ensure you have best lecture experience is to attend the lectures!

There are no tutorials or classes for this course.

The course will be using the ed platform for course discussion. You should shortly be receiving an email inviting you to join the ed forum for this course. Alternatively, you can register for the forum here .

In lieu of office hours, I have set up online consultation hours twice a week (days and times TBC). 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 poll available here . It is meant to be light-hearted, and is by no means compulsory. There is no right/wrong answer - I am primarily interested to see how (if at all) your perspective changes after taking this course.

There is also a short questionnaire available here - a little more serious than the poll, but again it is not compulsory. Its purpose is to help me best tailor the course to the current cohort, and to identify/address some of the main concerns that often arise at the start of the course.

Looking forward to meeting you tomorrow,

Paul Hunter
(Lecturer in Charge)