UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO - STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
The Department of Computer Science & Engineering

CSE 463/563: INTRODUCTION TO KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION AND REASONING Spring 2003

SYLLABUS

• "The core of AI is ... knowledge representation"
  • Graeme Hirst, Canadian AI #21 (October 1989): 10.

• "The key to finding powerful procedures that can solve [AI] ... problems is to discover appropriate representations of the relevant information. Once a representation is given that `make[s] the right things explicit and expose[s] natural constraints' [Winston], it is a much simpler matter to devise purely computational procedures to manipulate the information, still in its encoded representation."
  • G. N. Reeke, Jr., & Gerald M. Edelman (1988), "Real Brains and Artificial Intelligence," Daedalus (Winter 1988): 146-147.

• "What structures must be built into a system to allow it to learn? This is a central question for current AI, and the answer depends on issues of knowledge representation: How should knowledge be represented? Out of what components ... are knowledge structures built?"
  • David Waltz, "The Prospects for Building Truly Intelligent Machines," Daedalus (Winter 1988): 192.

• "[A] program has common sense if it automatically deduces for itself a sufficiently wide class of immediate consequences of anything it is told and what it already knows. ... In order for a program to be capable of learning something it must first be capable of being told it.
  • John McCarthy, "Programs with Common Sense" (1959); reprinted in Marvin Minsky (ed.), Semantic Information Processing (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1968).

CSE 463: CSE 305, or permission of instructor.
CSE 563: Graduate standing and knowledge of a high-level programming language (such as Lisp), or permission of instructor.

STAFF:

Professor:

Dr. William J. Rapaport, 214 Bell Hall, 645-3180 x 112, rapaport@cse.buffalo.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays & Fridays, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.; and by appointment.

Teaching Assistant:

Mr. Paul V. Gestwicki; Trailer B-11, 645-3772 pvg@cse.buffalo.edu
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 9:00-10:00 a.m.; Fridays, 12:00 noon -1:00 p.m.; and by appointment.

Note: Trailer E is between Furnas Hall & Ketter Hall.

• Required:
  Brachman, Ronald J., & Levesque, Hector J. (2001), Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (unpublished manuscript available from Makin' Copies at The Commons, Suite 105; 636-8440).

• Recommended:

  1. Russell, Stuart & Norvig, Peter (2003), Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, Second Edition (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Prentice Hall); isbn=0-13-790395-2.
     • Will be on reserve in UGL/SEL.

  2. Sowa, John F. (2000), Knowledge Representation: Logical, Philosophical, and Computational Foundations (Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole), isbn=0534949657.
     • Will be on reserve in UGL/SEL.

  3. Torsun, I.S. (1995), Foundations of Intelligent Knowledge-Based Systems (Academic Press), isbn=0126960607.

• Also of use:
  Shapiro, Stuart C. (1992), Common Lisp: An Interactive Approach (New York: W.H. Freeman); isbn=0-7167-8218-9.

IMPORTANT DATES & TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

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

DAY	MONTH	DATE	TOPICS	READINGS
M	Jan	13	1. Intro; review syllabus	B&L, Ch. 1
W		15	2. What is KR?
F		17
M		20	Martin Luther King, Jr., Birthday; no class
W		22	3. Semantic networks and the SNePS Knowledge Representation & Reasoning System	Shapiro & Rapaport 1987 Shapiro & Rapaport 1995 Martins 2002
F		24
M		27
T		28	Prof. Randall Dipert, PHI informal presentation of Peirce's logic 11:00 a.m. - 12:50 p.m., Park 280
W		29		B&L, Ch. 2
F		31	HW #1 assigned
M	Feb	3	CSE Grad Conference Student Union 145 A,B,E; NO CLASS TODAY HW #1 due; HW #2 assigned
W		5	SNePS ontology	B&L, Ch. 3
F		7
Sat		8	Workshop on Applied Ontology Park 280 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
M		10	4. Syntax vs. semantics PROJECT 1 DUE
W		12	HW #2 due	B&L, Ch. 4
F		14	6. Propositional logic: representation HW #3 assigned	B&L, Ch. 5
M		17	Propositional logic: reasoning	B&L, Ch. 6
W		19	HW #3 due
F		21		B&L, Ch. 7
M		24	5. First-order logic: representation
W		26
F		28	Review for Midterm
M	Mar	3	MIDTERM EXAM
W		5	Review of Midterm
F		7	Last Day to Resign Project 2 assigned Relation of SNePS to FOL
Sat-Sun		8-16	Spring Break
M		17	FOL: semantics	B&L, Ch. 2
W		19
F		21	FOL: rules of inference, clause form	B&L, Ch. 4
M		24	FOL: clause form HW 5 due; HW 6 assigned
W		26	FOL: clause form, resolution
F		28	FOL: resolution, refutation
M		31	FOL: unification HW 6 due
W	Apr	2
F		4
M		7	6. Ontology PROJECT 2 DUE OPTIONAL PROJECT 3 ASSIGNED HW 7 assigned	B&L, Ch. 3
W		9	7. Ontology: Time
F		11	8. CYC also: Doug Lenat, "Computers & Common Sense", CSE Distinguished Speaker Lecture Series, 3:30 p.m., 330 Student Union	Lenat, Douglas B. (1995) CYC: A Large-Scale Investment in Knowledge Infrastructure", CACM 38 (11): 33-38.
M		14	9. Mental Models HW 7 due; HW 8 assigned	Johnson-Laird et al. 1998
T		15	Philip N. Johnson-Laird, "How We Reason", UB Center for Cognitive Science Distinguished Speaker, 2:30-3:45 p.m., Slee Concert Hall
W		16	Discussion of CYC, SNePS-3 9. Frames also: P.N. Johnson-Laird, "Naive Causality: A Theory of Causal Meaning & Reasoning" 2:00-4:00 p.m., Park 280	B&L, Ch. 8
F		18	Frames (concluded)	B&L, Ch. 9
M		21	10. Description logics; HW 8 due; HW 9 assigned	B&L, Ch. 11
W		23	11. Default reasoning & belief revision	B&L, Ch. 14
F		25	Belief revision in SNeBR; course evaluation	TBA
M		28	Last Class: What is KR? Is it needed? Course summary; HW 9 due; PROJECT 3 DUE	Davis et al. 1993 Brooks 1991
F	May	2	FINAL EXAM 3:30-6:30 p.m. NSC 222

• Readings will not necessarily match the corresponding lecture topics, and will usually be several days in advance. However, no matter how far we stray from the tentative schedule, if you do the readings at the assigned times, you will be able to finish everything by the end of the semester.

• Not all assigned readings will be covered in lecture (in lecture, we will only cover interesting or hard material, plus some material that is not in the assigned reading), but you are responsible for all assigned material in the assigned reading and lectures.

• There are 3 levels at which you can keep up with the reading assignments:

  1. Minimal: Just read the chapters in the B&L text and the other required papers that I assign.

  2. Medium: Read at the minimal level, plus read the recommended-reading items that I will announce from time to time; these will typically be classic papers in KR.

  3. Maximal: Read at the medium level, plus read some or all of the other readings that I will suggest in lecture or post to the course website or newsgroup, and/or that are listed in the bibliographies of any of these readings.

• For advice on how to read a computer science text, see "How to Read (a Computer Science Text)".

1. You will be expected to attend all lectures and recitations, and to complete all readings and assignments on time. There will be weekly homework assignments, 3 programming projects, a mid-term exam, and a final exam (during exam week). Taking both the exams is a necessary condition for passing the course.

2. All homeworks will be announced in lecture. Therefore, be sure to get a classmate's phone number (for instance, 1 or 2 people sitting next to you in class, whoever they are!) so that you will not miss assignments in the unlikely event that you miss a class. There may be occasional extra assignments and quizzes in recitations.

3. You should subscribe to, and regularly monitor, the newsgroup sunyab.cse.563. You may post questions and comments there that are of general interest to the entire class. From time to time, information about homeworks, etc., will be posted to the newsgroup. The newsgroup will be archived in the CSE 463/563 Newsgroup Archive.

4. Just as you cannot expect to learn how to drive a car by reading about it or by watching other people do it, the same holds true for doing computer science. Do your work on time--this is one course you simply cannot cram for at the last minute, so don't even try! I cannot stress this strongly enough. Homeworks and--especially--projects may be fairly time-consuming, so please consider your other commitments, and plan your time accordingly.

5. Students should notify Prof. Rapaport within the first two weeks of class if they have a disability which would make it difficult to carry out course work as outlined (requiring note-takers, readers, extended test time).

1. HW assignments will be of the "paper-and-pencil" variety, to be done at home.

2. The purposes of homeworks are:

   • to give you practice in applying the concepts covered in the course
   • to give you a chance to assess the level of your understanding

3. There will be approximately 1 HW each week.

4. Due dates will be announced in lecture when the homework is assigned. HWs will be collected at the start of lecture on the due date. This is so that the homework can be discussed in the class period when it is due.

   If they are turned in after the start of lecture, your grade will be discounted by one full letter grade (e.g., A becomes B, A- becomes B-, etc.).

   If they are turned in after the start of the next lecture, your grade will be discounted by two full letter grades (e.g., A becomes C, A- becomes C-, etc.).

   If you turn in a HW after the start of the class after that, your grade will be discounted by three full letter grades (e.g., A becomes D, etc.).

   No HWs will be accepted after that.

5. Put your full name, date, and your recitation number (R1 or R2) at the top right-hand side of each page, and secure all pages with a staple in the top left-hand corner.

6. Note: The lowest homework grade will be dropped. You should assume that you will fail to turn in one homework (oversleep, get stuck in traffic, etc.)--that's the one that will be dropped. If you know now that you will regularly be late, see me to make alternative arrangements for turning in your work. Your graded HW will be returned in recitation. Occasional extra assignments or quizzes from lab can be used to replace low HW grades, at your TA's discretion.

1. Programming Languages, Lisp, and Unix: The prerequisite for this course is knowledge of any high-level programming language.

   But you are strongly advised to (learn and) use Lisp if you intend to do any research in AI. Moreover, there are good reasons to learn Lisp even if you want to make it in the real world of e-commerce; see:

   1. Paul Graham's Lisp Resources

   2. St. Amant, Robert, & Young, R. Michael (2001), "Common Lisp Resources on the Web" (PDF), intelligence 12(3): 21-23.

   3. ... and, especially,
      Graham, Paul (2001), "Beating the Averages".

   If you decide to use Lisp: The implementation of Lisp for this course is Allegro Common Lisp (acl), which runs under the Unix operating system. You will be expected to learn the idiosyncrasies of Allegro Common Lisp on your own (the Shapiro text should be of help). For more information on Lisp, see Marty Hall's "An Introduction and Tutorial for Common Lisp" website.

   CSE 463 students will have accounts on the CSE undergraduate machines; CSE 563 students will have accounts on the Grad Lab machines. If you do not have access to these machines, please let me know as soon as possible! You will be expected to learn how to use Unix, emacs, etc., on your own. CIT offers short courses on Unix, etc. To contact CIT:

   in person:	216 Computing Center
   by phone:	645-3542
   by fax:	645-3617
   by email:	cit-helpdesk@buffalo.edu
   on the Web:	http://wings.buffalo.edu/computing/Help-Desk/ http://www.cit.buffalo.edu/students/

2. Project Policies:

   • For each project, you will be expected to hand in a conference-style paper, typed or printed from a computer file, on 8.5 by 11 inch paper (stapled in the upper left-hand corner, without sprocket holes, and with your own title page), plus a well-documented listing of your program. (Please do not use folders or covers, unless your report is too thick to be stapled.) I strongly suggest that you learn to use Latex and ispell.

     In the real world, you will be expected to write papers, either for presentation at conferences, publication in journals, or presentation to your boss or co-workers. No one reads computer programs except the programmer him- or herself, or someone else who has to modify the program. Users and other people want to read about the program, what it does, how it works, etc., and to see it in action. Consequently, the main product of your work is the paper, not the program! In the paper, you should say what you have done, and say (in English summary, not in programming detail) how you have done it. It should also include annotated examples of your program in action. These should be well chosen to illustrate the range of performance of your program. The examples should not be redundant, nor included merely because they look complicated. Each example should illustrate a particular ability of your program. Nevertheless, the reader will assume that your program does nothing interesting that isn't illustrated! You should read Shapiro, Stuart C. (1999), "NimLearn: A Learning Nim Player", to see an example of a such a paper. By reading that paper, you might also learn some good Common Lisp programming techniques. (You can run the nimlearn program by running ACL, and loading /projects/shapiro/AIclass/nimlearn.)

     The program listing should either be presented as figures throughout the paper, or as an appendix. In either case, the listing is included as documentation for what you say in the paper.

     Thus, each report must consist of the following components:

     • descriptive title (not: "Project 1")

     • your name, the course number (either CSE 463 or CSE 563), your recitation section (R1 or R2), & date due

     • abstract of project (a 1-paragraph summary)

     • description of the project (the body of the paper)

     • list of references (if appropriate)

     • annotated sample runs (could be part of the description of the project)

     • commented code (could be as an appendix)

   • For general advice on how to prepare a written report, see my web page "How to Write".

   • Late policy for projects:

     • Projects must be handed in at the start of lecture on the due date.

     • Projects handed in between the start of lecture on the due date and the start of the next class are 1 day late.

     • Projects handed in between the start of class on the nth day after the due date and the start of the next class are n+1 days late.

     • Each project that is n days late loses n full letter grades. (E.g., an `A' paper that is 1 day late gets a `B'.)

     • Rule of thumb: In general, you are better off handing in an incomplete project--with a report that indicates what programming problems you had and what you left unfinished--than handing in a late project that is complete.

   HOW TO STUDY:

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

   GRADING:

   Undergrads (in 463) and grads (in 563) will be graded on different bases. All graded work will receive a letter grade: 'A', 'A-', 'B+', 'B', 'B-', 'C+', 'C', 'C-' (463 only), 'D+' (463 only), 'D', or 'F'. Your course grade will be calculated as a weighted average of all letter grades according to the following weights:

   Recitation grade (including attendance, homeworks, quizzes, etc.)	25%
   Projects	25%
   Midterm Exam	25%
   Final Exam	25%
   Total	100%

   For further information, see my web document on "Grading Principles"

   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 Fall 2003 semester. For more information on Incomplete policies, see the web page, "Incompletes".

   ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

   While 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 this department that any violation of academic integrity will result in an F for the course, that all departmental financial support including teaching assistanceship, research assistanceship, or scholarships be terminated, that notification of this action be placed in the student's confidential departmental record, and that the student be permanently ineligible for future departmental financial support. If you have any problems doing the homeworks or projects, consult the TA or Prof. Rapaport. Please be sure to read the webpage, "Academic Integrity: Policies and Procedures", which spells out all the details of this, and related, policies.

   CLASSROOM DISRUPTIONS:

   In large classes (such as this), 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 in the document "Obstruction or Disruption in the Classroom - Policies" (PDF).
   
   

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   Copyright © 2003 by William J. Rapaport (rapaport@cse.buffalo.edu)
   file: 563/syl.2003.04.25.html