The Department of Computer Science & Engineering
cse@buffalo
CSE 501:
GRADUATE STUDIES
IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
Fall 2010

SYLLABUS

This is a living document; the latest version will always be available on the Web at:
http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/501/F10/syl.html

Last Update: 17 November 2010

Note: NEW or UPDATED material is highlighted

Index: Other Relevant Links:
  • Catalog Description
    		•
  • CSE 501 homepage
    		•
  • Prerequisites
    		•
  • Info for CSE Grad Students
  • Professor
    		•
  • Email Archive
  • Class Meetings
    		•
  • UB Learns for CSE 501
  • Important Dates & Tentative Schedule
    		•
  • "Rules of the Road": Attendance, Email, etc.
  • Reading & Studying
  • Grading
  • Incompletes
  • Academic Integrity
    		•
  • Classroom Disruptions

    • To find out what graduate school is really like, be sure to read …

    1. CATALOG DESCRIPTION:

      This course gives necessary information about graduate studies in CSE for incoming students.
      Topics include:

      • academic integrity
      • the nature of research
      • good teaching and TA skills
      • resources available for graduate study in computer science.

      Registration and attendance are required for all new CSE graduate students.

    2. PREREQUISITES:

      Graduate standing in CSE.

    3. PROFESSOR:

    4. CLASS MEETINGS:
        CLASS INSTRUCTOR REGIS. NO. DAYS HOURS LOCATION
        Lecture Rapaport 027374 TTh 3:30 P.M.–4:50 P.M. Norton 112 (Woldman Theater)

    5. IMPORTANT DATES & TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

      Note: I have adjusted some of the dates and assignments below to reflect what we actually did in class, rather than on what I had planned or hoped to do :-)

      Day/Month/Date TOPICS
      (all presentations by Prof. Rapaport, unless otherwise indicated)       		ASSIGNMENTS
      T Aug 31 Important UB & CSE forms
      Th Sep 2 * Intro to 501.
      * Useful websites:
      M Sep 6 Labor Day; no classes
      T Sep 7 How to Study [.html] [.ppt]
      Th Sep 9 Rosh Hashanah; no classes till 6:00 P.M.
      F Sep 10 Last Drop/Add Day
      T Sep 14 Academic Honesty: cheating, plagiarism, etc. Plagiarism Assignment
      (due Tue, Sep 21).
      Th Sep 16 Grad Handbook
      T Sep 21 Technology:
      • Eclipse
      * presentation by Prof. Carl Alphonce      		 Plagiarism assignment due!
      Th Sep 23 Technology (cont'd):
      • personal computing
      • Internet dangers
      • general networking
      * presentation by Mr. Ken Smith, Manager of CSE Computer Operations
      T Sep 28 Communication Skills:
      • LaTeX
      • BibTeX
      * presentation by Prof. Steve Ko
      Th Sep 30 Colloquium presentation by:
      Prof. Barry Smith,
      (UB Dept. of Philosophy),
      "Ontological Engineering"
      T Oct 5 Technology (cont'd):
      • personal computing (cont'd)
      • Internet dangers (cont'd)
      • general networking (cont'd)
      * presentation by Mr. Ken Smith, Manager of CSE Computer Operations
      Th Oct 7 Technology (cont'd):
      • brief overview of MS/MacOS
        (includes accessing MS products using MSDN)
      • brief intro to Unix
      * presentation by Mr. Ken Smith, Manager of CSE Computer Operations
      T Oct 12 Technology (cont'd):
      • OpenSource Software
      * presentation by Mr. Ken Smith, Manager of CSE Computer Operations
      Th Oct 14 Technology (cont'd):
      • Emacs
      * Presentation by Mr. Michael Prentice
      T Oct 19 Technology (cont'd):
      • Beamer
      * Presentation by Prof. Jan Chomicki
      Th Oct 21 CSE Colloquium:
      T Oct 26 Communication skills (cont'd):
      Th Oct 28 CSE Colloquium:
      T Nov 2 How to Give a Presentation (cont'd?)
      and
      How to Teach [.ppt]       		Read Turing 1936 in preparation for 11/23

      • Concentrate on the informal expository parts;
        the technical parts are interesting
        but difficult to follow, incorrect in many parts,
        and can be skimmed.
      • In particular, concentrate on:

        • §§1–6
          (study the simple examples
          of Turing machines carefully;
          skim the complex ones)
        • and §9, part I
          (what a human computer does).

      • §7 describes the universal Turing machine;
        §8 describes the Halting Problem.
        You can skim these sections
        (that's "skim", not "skip" :-)

      PLEASE BRING YOUR COPY OF TURING 1936
      TO LECTURE ON 11/23

      Th Nov 4 CSE Colloquium:
      Prof. Jana Kosecka
      (CS, George Mason University; Vision, Robotics, etc.)
      guest of Prof. Corso.

      "Semantic Segmentation of Street Scenes"

      T Nov 9 Critical thinking
      Th Nov 11 CSE Distinguished Speaker
      Eric Allender, Rutgers University
      guest of Prof. Selman

      "Circuit Complexity Meets the Theory of Randomness"

      F Nov 12 Last day to resign with "R"
      T Nov 16 How to Do Research
      Th Nov 18 CSE Colloquium:
      T Nov 23 What Is Computer Science?

      PLEASE BRING YOUR COPY OF TURING 1936
      TO TODAY'S LECTURE

      Turing Intro slideshow

      Wed–Sun Nov 24–28 Thanksgiving; no classes
      T Nov 30 NEW What Is Computer Science? (cont'd)
      Th Dec 2 CSE Colloquium:
      Anna Gilbert, University of Michigan
      guest of Profs. Ngo and Rudra

      NEW "Sparse Approximation and Algorithms"

      T Dec 7 Faculty Research Overviews
      Th Dec 9 Faculty Research Overviews
      or: CSE Colloquium

    6. READING & STUDYING:

      "Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself." — Chinese Proverb

      "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." — American Proverb

      "You can lead a horse to water, but you must convince him it is water before there is any chance he will drink." — Albert Goldfain

      "Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire" — William Butler Yeats

      "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." — Sir Richard Steele

      Therefore…

      "The more you read, the more intelligent you are. It's really that simple." — Ethan Hawke

      But…

      "To read critically is to read skeptically. The reader [should] ask…not only, ‘Do I understand what this means?’ but ‘Do I buy it?’ " — Kenneth S. Goodman

      1. For advice on how to read a computer science text, or a text in any academic discipline, see "How to Read (a Computer Science Text)".

        • Here's the short version:

            After reading each sentence and before reading the next,
            ask yourself "Why?".

            If you can't answer that question, then ask for help.

      2. For general advice on how to study for any course, see my web page, "How to Study".

    7. "RULES OF THE ROAD":

      1. Attendance:

        1. You will be expected to attend all lectures.

        2. PLEASE DO **NOT** USE LAPTOPS OR OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES DURING CLASS!
          (click on the link to find out why)

      2. Email:

        1. You will automatically be placed on the UBLearns email list for the course.
          I will use this list as my main means of communicating with you out of class.
          And you can use it to communicate with the rest of us.

        2. If: you do not normally read email at the email address that UB has as your official address,
            then: please either do so for this course,
            or else have your mail forwarded.

        3. You may send questions and comments that are of general interest to the entire class using the UBLearns email list.

        4. You can also send email just to me, at:

          Be sure to:

          • send your mail from your buffalo.edu account
          • & fill in the subject line, beginning with "CSE 501",
          so that my mailer doesn't think that it's spam.

        5. If: you send email just to me that I deem to be of general interest,
            then: I will feel free to remail it to the email list along with my reply
            unless: you explicitly tell me that you want to remain anonymous,
            in which case:
              I may choose to remail it to the email list preserving your anonymity.

        6. The emails will be archived at:
          http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/501/F10/EMAIL/.

      3. Students with Disabilities:

        If: you have a disability which makes it difficult to carry out course work as outlined
        (requiring note-takers, readers, etc.),

          then: you should notify Prof. Rapaport within the first two weeks of class.

    8. GRADING:

      The grading in this course is on an S/U basis.

      Incompletes:

      It is University policy that a grade of Incomplete is to be given only when a small amount of work or a single exam is missed due to circumstances beyond the student's control, and that student is otherwise doing passing work.

      I will follow this policy strictly!

      Thus, you should assume that I will not give incompletes :-)

      Any incompletes that I might give,
      in a lapse of judgment :-),
      will have to be made up by the end of the
      Spring 2011
      semester.
      (I will not be here during the Fall 2011 semester.)

      For more information on Incomplete policies, see the Graduate School web page,
      "Incomplete Grades".

      Note that my policy on when a grade of Incomplete must be completed differs from the University policy!

    9. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Although it is acceptable to discuss general approaches with your fellow students,
      the work you turn in must be your own.

      It is the policy of the CSE department that:

      • any violation of academic integrity will result in an F for the course,

      • all CSE-departmental financial support be terminated, including:

        • teaching assistantships,

        • research assistantships, or

        • scholarships

      • notification of this action be placed in the student's confidential departmental record, and

      • the student be permanently ineligible for future CSE-departmental financial support.

      Please be sure to read these webpages:

      which spell out all the details of this, and related, policies.

      For some hints on how to avoid plagiarism when writing essays for courses,
      see my website "Plagiarism".

    10. CLASSROOM DISRUPTIONS:

      In large classes (but surely not ours :-), students have been known to be disruptive,
      either to the instructor or to fellow students.

      The university's policies on this topic,
      both how the instructor should respond and how students should behave,
      may be found at:       "Obstruction or Disruption in the Classroom".



    Text copyright © 2010 by William J. Rapaport (rapaport@buffalo.edu)
    Cartoon links and screen-captures appear here for your enjoyment.
    They are not meant to infringe on any copyrights held by the creators.
    For more information on any cartoon, click on it, or contact me.
    http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/501/F10/syl.html-20101117