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Many other classes start at 2:15, but this one starts at 2:05.
You are not required to attend this.
It provides an opportunity to discuss the course topics and the exam.
It provides an opportunity to discuss how to approach the homework problems.
(Tobi's instructions: How to get there.)
Please do not copy other people's solutions or let anybody copy yours.
Please do not work on a specific solution together with others.
The homeworks help train the part of your brain that deals with new forms of logic.
Interacting with others while working on the homework
divides your brain's focus between logic and social interaction,
and significantly reduces your brain's ability to learn from the exercises.
A solution is like an essay: a specific detailed expression of an idea.
It is easy to see when one derives directly from another.
Sharing of solutions creates an uncomfortable situation for everybody involved,
and typically results in one or more people failing the class.
Yes, we keep records of people's solutions from previous years,
and no, sharing those solutions is not permitted either.
For some reason the students involved in such cases
often think they didn't do anything very wrong,
and they feel that a failing grade is an unfair punishment.
We enforce this rule, although it is unpleasant for everyone,
out of respect for the vast majority of students who invest a lot of their personal time
solving the homework on their own.
More precisely, the homework deadline is the day before the next class,
so if there is a week with no class, you have an extra week for the homework.
Finishing late at night is ok - the deadline is 4 am Friday.
For example:
The first week's homework has four parts.
The second week's homework has five parts.
All nine of these are worth an equal number of points.
For the final project, you will define your own model of computation
in a written report due by the end of July.
The in-class exam will be a one-hour multiple-choice test,
given during the 2nd-to-last class, on May 24.
For both the final project and the in-class exam,
you will be expected to know about the models discussed in class,
many of which are not covered on the homework,
so if you are skipping the lectures, be sure you have some other way to learn the material.
(No, we don't know of any other way to learn the material. This is actually why we give the lectures.)
If you need to miss a lecture for a very good reason, and you want to learn the material anyway,
you will need to find out (after the lecture) what was covered, and study that on your own.
More info about the project is here.