Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration1 Welcome Course –Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE 421/821 Instructor –Berthe Y. Choueiry (Shu-we-ri), –Office: AVH 123B, Tel: +1(402) –Apologizes for absence during Oct 4--6, attending a conference No GTA  List of names –Please check your name, address, and program of study

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration2 Pre-requisites –CSCE 310 and CSCE 476/876 –If you do not have pre-reqs, contact instructor Track –CS students: theory track –PhD qualifier: sub-part of the AI exam 3 credit-hours

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration3 Meetings Regular class –Tuesday, Thursday: 11:00—12:15 Recitation –Wednesday 5:00—6:00 p.m. –More often than not, will be used for make-up classes Lectures will be given –By instructor –By visitors 1 researcher from Adventium (tentative) 1 researcher from PARC (tentative) –Occasionally, presentations by students and research assistants

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration4 Help Office hours –Instructor: Tuesday, Thursday 12:30 p.m.—1:30 p.m. Q&A: Send your questions – to (will be set up –Ask your questions during Wednesday make-up class Share: your ideas and good pointers with class –Send to (will be set up –Message will be broadcast to the entire class (use sparinglyl!) –Good pointers will be listed on the web under “Your catch”

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration5 Expectations I Mastery of pre-requisite's material Effort outside classroom –9 hours of work outside classroom, if you have pre- requisites –If you spend more time, contact instructor Attendance –Sign-up sheet circulated for attendance –Attendance of lectures and recitation is mandatory –Absence: maximum 4 sessions (including recitation) –Prior notification ( ) for absence is mandatory

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration6 Expectations 2 Collaboration policy –Feel free to discuss it with others –But do it on your own –Always acknowledge sources & help received Prompt response to notifications –Sent to your address at CSE (you must have one) –Posted on web: cse.unl.edu/~choueiry/F / If you drop the class, let me know ASAP

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration7 Grading Pretest: 3% Quizzes: 37%, cannot not be made up Assignments: 25% –Programming and pen+paper –Turned-in on due date, before lecture –Delay penality: 20% per day, starting first minute after deadline –You may use any programming language acceptable to GTA Project: 35% –Individual (preferred) or in small teams (if really necessary) (  mid-term)  (  final) Feedback: –Glossaries and HWK will be rotated for grading, supervised by instructor –Grades are posted at door of AVH 123 –Grades will NOT be sent by –Need more feedback? Please, let us know how

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration8 Projects A list of possible projects is forthcoming, will include –Search competition for solving the GTA assignment problem –Implement and evaluate an algorithm –Model and solve a (simple) practical problem –Investigate an advanced theoretical concept –Conduct a critical literature survey (at least 3 papers), etc. Alternatives –Propose your own project or discuss with instructor –Help a research assistant in her work (Yaling Zheng) At the end of project, you must submit with handin: –Project report: -report.ext –Slides: -defense.ext –Code: -code.tar

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration9 Improving your grades * Do the glossaries: weekly & final (8% total) –Must be typewritten, and alphabetically sorted –Goal: entice you to do required reading Collect bonus points –100% attendance, –Find bugs in slides, in lectures, –Be vocal in class, solve “riddles”, etc. Present a research paper (10% per presentation) Write a critical summary of a research paper (5% per summary) Write a chapter of a “textbook” (20% total) * Restrictions apply (deadlines, max number per student)

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration10 Important dates Regularly check schedule on the web (3 times/week) Thu, Oct 6: Project must be chosen, use handin Thu, Nov 3: progress report on projects due, use handin Thu, Nov 17: –First deadline for extra-credit work: 1 presentation, 2 summaries, 1 chapter write-up must be done by this date Wed, Dec 1: –Second deadline for extra-credit work: All paper presentations (Max 2), summaries (Max 4), chapter write-up (Max 2) must be done by this date. Tue, Nov 29 & Thu, Dec 1: quiz may be given in class Thu, Dec 1: Deadline for final glossary Tue/Wed/Thu Dec. 6, 7, 8 (dead week): project presentations, some presentations could be schedule in evenings if necessary Thu, Dec 8: projects code & slides (when applicable) due, use handin

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration11 Course material Content of the course –Introduction: definition and practical examples –Foundations and basic mechanisms –Advanced solving techniques –Extensions to the problem definition –Alternative approaches to solving the problem Course support –New textbook by Dechter (available at bookstore). Will not be followed linearly, but should be used for reference. –Book by Tsang (on reserve at LL, available on-line, out of print) –Papers from: WWW, course web-page, library, electronic reserves, instructor, etc.

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration12 More resources Web –Check links: –Benchmark problems: –eLists: comp.constraints –CP Online: Conferences –CP, AIOR, IJCAI, ECAI, NCAI (AAAI), FLAIRS... –Workshops in parallel to conferences Journals: –Constraints, AIJ, JACM, Annals of AI+Math, etc.

Foundations of Constraint Processing, Fall 2005 Aug 22, 2005Course Administration13 Your future: Jobs!! Commercial companies: Ilog, i2 Technologies, Trilogy, PeopleSoft/Red Pepper, Carmen Systems (Sweden), etc. Prestigious research centers: NASA Ames, PARC, JPL, SRI International, BT Labs (UK), Ilog (!), etc. Start your own: Selectica, Seibel, Parc Technologies Ltd, In Time Systems Inc, Blue Pumpkin, etc. Academic: –Constraint languages –Modeling, constraint representation, reasoning & propagation mechanisms –Dedicated reasoning: diagnosis, planning & scheduling, design, configuration, Case-Based Reasoning, etc.