CSci 541: Expert Systems and Logic Programming
Spring Semester 2008
Syllabus

Locations

The spring semester 2008 class meets in 235 Weir Hall at 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The class is taught by Prof. Conrad Cunningham, whose office is in 203 Weir Hall. The official office hours for this class are Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. and by appointment at other times.

Prof. Cunningham's voice telephone number is (662) 915-5358 and fax number is (662) 915-5623. His WWW home page is http://www.cs.olemiss.edu/~hcc/ and his email address is cunningham AT cs DOT olemiss DOT edu.

The WWW home page for this class is http://www.cs.olemiss.edu/~hcc/csci541/ .

The final examination for this class is scheduled for Thursday, 8 May, at 4:00 a.m.

Student Disabilities Services Statement

"It is the responsibility of any student with a disability who requests a reasonable accommodation to contact the Office of Disability Services (915-7128). Contact will then be made by that office through the student to the instructor of this class. The instructor will then be happy to work with the student so that a reasonable accommodation of any disability can be made."

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the course, the students should (1) know the concepts and terminology of the logic programming paradigm, (2) be able to solve problems by writing programs in Prolog, and (3) be able to represent knowledge in a suitable form for use with Prolog and typical rule-based expert systems shells.

Course Description from the Catalog

Expert systems and knowledge engineering. Computer systems to emulate human expertise. Rule-based and other knowledge representation techniques. Knowledge engineering as a model for expert systems development; logic programming for expert systems implementation.

Prerequisites

CSci 211 and Math 301 or graduate standing.

Anyone who does not have a mature understanding of programming in an imperative language (e.g., Java, C/C++, or Pascal), of basic algorithms and data structures (e.g., sorting, searching, lists, stacks, and trees), and of basic discrete mathematics (e.g., sets, relations, functions, induction, and simple algebraic concepts) should contact the instructor before enrolling in the course. Successful completion of CSci 111, 112, and 211 and Math 301 should give sufficient background.

Source Materials

Textbook:

Ivan Bratko. Prolog Programming for Artificial Intelligence, third edition, Addison-Wesley, 2001.

Software:

Prolog. The main language used in programming for the "logic programming" portion of the course will be Prolog, in particular the SWI-Prolog implementation. Windows, Linux, and Mac versions (and source code) are freely available on the SWI-Prolog website at http://www.swi-prolog.org/.

In addition to the XPCE tools that are included in the package, there are also links on the SWI-Prolog website to other development tools such as an emacs Prolog mode and the SWI-Prolog Editor for Windows.

Rule-based programming. Some of the lectures and assignments will address expert systems using a rule-based language such as JESS or JBoss Rules. Students will be given information on this later.

Documentation:

The SWI-Prolog documentation is part of the release package. A Web version is also online at the SWI-Prolog web site. Local copies of the PDFs are linked to the lecture notes page. These are quite long documents!

Students will be given information about the rule-based language documentation later.

Readings:

Various journal and conference articles, research reports, Web documents, and book excerpts as appropriate.

Course Topics

The course is expected to cover most of the following topics. Of course, this list is subject to refinement as the semester progresses.

1. Introduction to Prolog
2. Prolog syntax and semantics
3. Lists and operations
4. Programming techniques
5. Controlling backtracking
6. Input/Output
7. Built-in predicates
8. Programming style
9. Data structures
10. Search strategies
11. Knowledge representation and expert systems
12. Rule-based programming
13. Advanced features, techniques, and applications.

Professional Conduct

As a student in CSci 541, you are expected to conduct yourself in a professional manner according to the Honor Code of the School of Engineering, the Information Technology Appropriate Use Policy, the M Book, and any other relevant policies.

Limited Collaboration Policy. Unless otherwise indicated, any homework assignment or programming exercise given in this class will be an individual assignment. The work you submit is to reflect the knowledge, understanding, and skill that you have attained as an individual. However, the instructor does want to encourage the development of a community of scholars who are actively engaged in discussion of the ideas related to this course. With this in mind, you are allowed to discuss solutions of the homework and programming problems with other students if done so according to the following guidelines:

• You may discuss ideas for homework and programming assignments with your classmates. However, you cannot collaborate on writing the solution or the program code. That is, you can talk about the problems and ideas for solving them, but you cannot write things down with anyone else. You are, of course, prohibited from copying or seeing another student's written solution, and you are not allowed to show your work to anyone else. Similarly, you are not allowed to copy text or program code from a book or a page on the Web unless explicitly authorized to do so by the instructor.

• You should accept help with care. If you work too closely with another student, you might mislead yourself into believing that you understand the concepts and techniques better than you actually do. Don't forget that the instructor has office hours and can probably give you hints or suggestions to get you started.

• You should give help with care. Do not help anyone too much. When you have solved a problem, it is tempting to just tell other students how you solved it. Instead, try to allow them to come to the solution on their own. Maybe give them a hint to help them get "over a hump." Remember that helping someone too much will hurt them in the long term if they can't work through problems on the exams by themselves. So avoid the temptation to do so. If you can't help other students without giving away the whole solution, direct them to see the instructor (who may or may not have a way to "edge" them toward the solution).

• You are not obligated to help anyone. If you feel uncomfortable helping another student for any reason, please direct them to see the instructor.

• Except as described above, all work in this class is covered by the School of Engineering's Honor Code statement on plagiarism. It is plagiarism "to knowingly deceive, copy, paraphrase, or otherwise misrepresent your work in a manner inconsistent with professional conduct".

Grading

The grading scale for this class is A [90..100], B [80..90), C [70..80), D [60..70), and F [0..60).

60 percent of the semester grade will come from the exam average and 40 percent from the homework assignment/project average.

Assignments and Projects

• Students taking the course for undergraduate credit may have slightly different assignments in some cases.

• All students are expected to study the relevant portions of the textbook and handouts in conjunction with our class discussions (i.e., before coming to class). Explicit reading assignments will not always be given.

• Approximately seven homework assignments are planned for the semester. Some of the assignments may be called "projects" and have more credit than the "regular" assignments.

• Unless otherwise stated in the assignment description, an assignment is to be carried out by each individual student without inappropriate collaboration with others. See the section on Professional Conduct.

• In preparing and submitting homework assignments make sure that:
  • your name, the course number or name, the assignment identifier, and individual exercises are clearly indicated in the file or on the paper. (If it is a group assignment, give the group identifier and the names of all members.)
  • for any handwritten portions, you write legibly on only one side of the paper in a black or blue pen or dark pencil. Do NOT use red or green ink! Some of the assignments may require that materials be generated with a word processor and/or other tools.
  • your pages are stapled together in the upper left corner when viewed from the front.

• Several programs will be assigned during the semester. We will use the logic programming language Prolog or a rule-based language.

  For these exercises, you will need to submit appropriate design documentation, a listing of your program code, and appropriate printed output from your program testing. Make sure that you clearly label the assignment as described above. You will also be asked to submit your program source code in electronic form using Blackboard.

• As appropriate, there may be a few in-class assignments or quizzes that count toward the assignment/project portion of the grade.

• The programs and other assignments given to students enrolled in the course for graduate credit will often differ from the ones given to undergraduates. In particular, the assignments will often include components that are required for graduate students but optional for undergraduates.

• All students are expected to complete their homework assignments by their due dates. If an assignment is submitted late, a penalty of 10 percent of that assignment's grade will be assessed for each day it is late. A homework paper will not be accepted after graded papers have been returned, after a solution has been distributed, or after the final examination.

Examinations

• There will be four examinations, including the final. The final examination is optional and can replace one of the other examinations.

• The examination portion of the semester grade will be calculated by averaging the three best examination grades.

• The three mid-term exams will be spaced more or less evenly through the semester.

• The final examination will be given during the final examination period. Please do not ask to take the final examination earlier than the time set for the entire class.

• Each exam will cover all topics studied to that point.

• Each exam may consist of a combination of in-class and take-home components.

• If you cannot take an examination at the scheduled time because of an illness or other special circumstances, please notify Prof. Cunningham in advance. Without advance notification, it may not be possible to give a make-up examination.

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