Department of Computer Science
Pomona College
CS 51A - Intro to Computer Science with Topics in AI
Spring 2019

instructors: Dave Kauchak
e-mail: David.last_name@pomona.edu
office hours: Edmunds 224
  Mon. 3-3:50pm
  Tue. 11am-12
  Thu. 11am-12:30
  Fri. 10-11am
  and by appointment

Alexandra Papoutsaki (Lab)
e-mail: Alexandra.last_name@pomona.edu
office hours: Edmunds 222
  Mon. 10-11am, 3-5pm
  Wed. 4-6pm
  and by appointment

Mentor sessions - Edmunds 105:
  Tuesday 5-7pm (Grete)
  Wednesday 6-8pm (Jack)
  Thursday 6-8pm (Janice. Simon)

class time: MWF 9-9:50am
class location: Edmunds 114

lab time: F 1:15-4pm
lab location: Edmunds 105
lab TAs: Cleo, Levente

web page: http://www.cs.pomona.edu/classes/cs51a/

book: Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist (2nd Edition). Allen Downey. It is available online for free.

Other information:


Schedule

Note: This is a tentative schedule and will likely change
DateTopicReadingAssignmentMisc
1/23introductionCh 1-2  
1/25functionsCh 3Assignment 1Lab 1
1/28print vs. return  practice 1 (solutions)
1/30turtle, random, forCh 4-4.4 practice 2 (solutions)
2/1booleansCh 5-5.7, 5.11Assignment 2practice 3 (solutions)
2/4listsCh 10-10.6practice 4 (solutions)
2/6more listsCh 12-12.3practice 5 (solutions)
2/8sequencesAssignment 3practice 6 (solutions)
2/11boolean variables
2/13aliasingCh 10.7-10.13
2/15scopeCh 8-8.5Assignment 4Lab - review
2/18Midterm 1sample problems
(partial solutions)
2/20reading filesCh 8.6-8.11practice 7 (solutions)
2/22dictionariesCh 11-11.3Assignment 5practice 8 (solutions)
2/25recursionCh 5.8-5.10practice 9 (solutions)
2/27more recursionpractice 10 (solutions)
3/1turtle recursionAssignment 6
3/4intro AI (ppt)
3/6intro ML (ppt)
3/8Naive Bayes (ppt)Assignment 7
3/11neural network basics (ppt)article (through first column, pg. 36)
3/13perceptron learning (ppt)
3/15neural net learning (ppt)NN lab
3/18break
3/20break
3/22break
3/25classes
3/27more classes
3/29César ChávezAssignment 8
4/1Midterm 2sample problems
(solutions)
4/3problem solving via search (ppt)
4/5matricesAssignment 9
4/8search algorithms (ppt)
4/10informed search (ppt)
4/12informed search (ppt)Assignment 10
4/15adversarial search (ppt)
4/17adversarial search 2 (ppt)
4/19higher order functionsAssignment 11
4/22web pages
4/24exceptions
4/26setsAssignment 12
4/29Midterm 3sample problems
(solutions)
5/1nim tournament, big O
5/3runtime analysis
4/6philosophy (ppt)
4/8ethics

Final exam Wednesday May 15, 9am-12.
A few more sample problems

Additional resources