Instructor: |
Pete Manolios |
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Office: Office hours: Email: Phone: |
KACB 2340 Monday & Wednesday 12:00 - 1:00PM, or by appointment manolios@cc 404-894-9219 |
Class Information |
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Location: Meeting times: Web page: Oscar info: |
Cherry Emerson 204 Monday / Wednesday, 3:05PM-4:25PM http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~manolios/courses/Computational-Logic/2007-Spring/ CS 8803 - COL |
You are interested in the foundations of computation and want answers to questions such as:
You are interested in how to use one computing system to reason about another. The sheer complexity of systems makes it impossible to reason about them without assistance from another computing system. The theoretical and practical questions that arise can provide several lifetimes worth of intellectual challenges. For example, how efficiently can we reason about propositional logic, the simplest of all logics? This is essentially the famous P=NP problem.
You are interested in building dependable systems. Computing systems are ubiquitous, controlling everything from cars and airplanes to financial markets and the distribution of information. Many of these systems interact with changing environments in complex ways that are often not fully understood and which sometimes lead to disastrous consequences, economic and otherwise. The recent PITAC (President's Information Technology Advisory Committee) report makes it clear that building dependable software systems is one of the major challenges facing the computing field.
We have become dangerously dependent on large software systems whose behavior is not well understood and which often fail in unpredicted ways.
Formal methods applied to the design and testing phases of development can be practical and economical as they enable one to exhaustively check parts of a design, often revealing the presence of subtle bugs that would otherwise go undetected. Industry is starting to notice, with companies such as Intel, IBM, AMD, Microsoft, Motorola, Cadence, Synopsis, etc. all engaged in efforts to build reliable systems using formal methods based on computational logic.
My goal is to help you develop into critical, independent-thinking, and creative scientists. In this course, I will try to do this by selecting material that I expect will be relevant for most of your careers and by giving you opportunities to grapple with and gain technical mastery of some of the most important ideas in computational logic. You gain technical mastery by doing and, for the most part, this occurs outside of the class. My role is to create the opportunity for learning; it is only with your active participation that learning truly takes place.
During lectures I try to explain, clarify, emphasize, summarize, encourage, and motivate. I can also answer questions, lead discussions, and ask questions. In class you have an opportunity to test your understanding, so things work best if you come to class prepared. We can then focus on the interesting issues, rather than on covering material that you could just as easily find in the book.
Also of interest might be:
Before buying any of the following, I suggest that you
evaluate them carefully first.
Note:I have a few copies that I can lend out for the semester. Also, a paperback version is available on the Web. This is much cheaper than the hardcover version.
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Homework: Grading: 2 Exams: Projects: |
30% 10% 40% 20% |
Part of the reason I am asking you to do this is that I expect you will learn a great deal in the process, e.g., students often choose to grade homeworks that are giving them difficulty. In this way, the impact on their grade is minimized and they get a chance to really learn the material.
The reason I give you homework is to help you understand the material and yourself. Sometimes things that seemed obvious in class turn out to be more subtle than you expected. Homework gives you the opportunity to show, yourself primarily and me secondarily, that you understand the concepts and their implications. Sometimes I also ask that you read and develop some of the concepts on your own. The material we covered in class should act as the foundation that makes this possible.
I will also give you opportunities to work in teams. Some of the homeworks and the project will allow you to work with other students. I encourage you, but do not require you, to do this.
Here are the rules for the take-home exams. I trust you to abide by them. Do not consult outside sources when working on exams. You can use the class textbooks and handouts that I gave you, but you cannot use any other source without explicit permission from me. A corollary is that there should be absolutely no discussion about any of the exam questions, with anyone other than me.
Projects will be presented during class. In addition, a single project report is required. Finally, every member of the team will evaluate the contributions of the other team members. Your project grades will be based on the above.
Collaboration on projects is allowed and encouraged.
In class you have an opportunity to test your understanding, so things work best if you come to class prepared. We can then focus on the interesting issues, rather than on covering material that you could just as easily find in the book.
Last modified: Mon Jan 22 21:00:05 EST 2007