Welcome
• Course
– Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE 421/821
• Instructor
– Berthe Y. Choueiry (Shu-we-ri), choueiry@cse.unl.edu,
– Class: Mon/Wed/Fri 3:30—4:20 @ AvH 118
– Recitation: Mon: 5:00-5:50 @ AvH 118
• Volunteer GTA
– TBA
• Attendance sheet
– Please check your name
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Pre-requisites
• Pre-requisites
– Contact instructor
• Track
– Undergrads
• CS: Foundations, AI
• CE: Applications
– Grad CS students: Theory track
• 3 credit-hours
– Research intensive
– Students: Committed, motivated, collegial, independent
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Meetings
• Regular class
– AvH 118, Monday, Wednesday, Friday 3:30—4:20 pm
• Recitation
– Avh 118, Monday, 5:00—5:50 pm, scheduled as necessary
– Discuss homework, take quizzes, discuss projects
• Lectures will be given
– By instructor
– By visitors
• TBA
– Occasionally, presentations by students
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Help
• Office hours
– Instructor: Monday, Wednesday: TBA
• Preferred communication: Piazza
https://piazza.com/class#fall2012/csce421821
• Q&A: Send your questions
– Email to cse421@cse.unl.edu
– Ask your questions during class, by email
• Share: your ideas and good pointers with class
– Send email to cse421-ml@cse.unl.edu
– Message will be broadcast to the entire class (use
sparingly!)
– Good pointers will be listed on the web under “Your catch”
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Expectations I
• Mastery of pre-requisite's material
• Effort outside classroom
– 9 hours of work outside classroom, if you have prerequisites
– If you spend more time, let me know
• Attendance
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Sign-up sheet circulated for attendance
Attendance of lectures (& recitation) is mandatory
Absence: maximum 6 sessions (including recitation)
Prior notification (email) for absence is mandatory
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Expectations 2
• Collaboration policy
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Do discuss everything with others
But do it on your own
Always acknowledge sources & help received
Wiki page is set up for exchanging information
• Prompt response to notifications
– Sent to your email address at CSE (you must have one)
– Posted on web:
cse.unl.edu/~cse421
cse.unl.edu/~choueiry/F12-421-821/
• If you drop the class, let me know ASAP
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Grading
• Pretest: 2%
• Quizzes: 28%, cannot not be made up
• Assignments: 40%
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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’s
• Project: 30%
– Individual (preferred) or in small teams (if really necessary)
• ( mid-term)  (  final)
• Feedback:
– Glossaries and HWK will be graded
– Grades will be posted on Blackboard
– Need more feedback? Please, let us know how
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Projects
• A list of possible projects is forthcoming, will include
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Implement the game of Clue
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 and discuss it with instructor
• At the end of project, you must submit with handin:
– Project report: <lastname>-report.ext
– Slides: <lastname>-defense.ext
– Code: <lastname>-code.tar
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Improving your grades*
• Do the glossaries: weekly & final (8% total)
– Must be typewritten, alphabetically sorted
– Goal: entice you to do required reading
• Collect bonus points
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100% attendance
Find bugs in slides, in lectures
Fill the course evaluation @ end of course
Be vocal in class, solve “riddles”, etc.
• Do extra work
– 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)
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Important dates
Regularly check schedule on the web (3 times/week)
• Fri, Aug 24
– Pretest over 235 material
• Mon/Wed/Fri Oct 8—12: Instructor out of town
• Fri, Oct 19
– Project must be chosen, use handin
• Fri, Nov 9
– Progress report on projects due, use handin
• Fri, Nov 16
– First deadline for extra-credit work: 1 presentation, 2 summaries, 1
chapter write-up must be done by this date
• Fri, Nov 30
– Final glossary due
– Project reports due in print and using handin
– 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
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Important Dates (cont.)
Regularly check schedule on the web (2, 3 times/week)
• Mon/Wed/Fri, Nov 26/28/30
– Quizzes may be given during class or recitation
• Fri, Nov 30
– Deadline for final glossary, in print and using handin
– Project reports are due, in print and using handin
• Mon/Wed/Fri, Dec 3/5/7 (dead week) & Wed Dec 12
(7:30—9:30)
– Project presentations
– Some presentations could be scheduled in evenings if necessary
• Fri, Dec 7 (midnight)
– Projects code & defense slides (when applicable) due, use handin
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Course material
• Content of the course
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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)
– Constraint Networks, ebook by Lecoutre @ http://iris.unl.edu
– Papers from: WWW, course web-page, library, electronic reserves,
instructor, http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/, etc.
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More resources
• Web
– Check links: www.cse.unl.edu/~choueiry/F12-421-821
– Benchmark problems
– Association for Constraint Programming
• Conferences
– CP, AIOR, IJCAI, ECAI, NCAI (AAAI), FLAIRS...
– Workshops in parallel to conferences
• Journals:
– Constraints, AIJ, JACM, Annals of AI+Math, etc.
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Your future: Jobs!!
• Commercial companies: Ilog, i2 Technologies, Trilogy,
PeopleSoft/Red Pepper, Carmen Systems (Sweden), etc.
• Prestigious research centers: NASA Ames, Microsoft
Research (Cambridget), PARC, JPL, SRI International, BT Labs
(UK), Ilog (IBM?), 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.
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