STANFORD CS 228
Structured Probabilistic Models: Principles and Techniques
Winter 2008

Announcements

  • 3/07/08: Quiz 9 is available at https://www.stanford.edu/class/cs228/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi.
  • 2/27/08: Quiz 8 is available at https://www.stanford.edu/class/cs228/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi.
  • 2/26/08: Problem Set #4 has been posted on the handouts page.
  • 2/20/08: Quiz 7 is available at https://www.stanford.edu/class/cs228/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi.
  • 2/19/08: Programming Assignment #3 has been posted on the handouts page.
  • 2/14/08: Quiz 6 is available at https://www.stanford.edu/class/cs228/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi.
  • 2/12/08: Problem Set #3 has been posted on the handouts page.
  • 2/11/08: Quiz 5 solutions are now available.
  • 2/07/08: Reminder: We'll be holding supplemental office hours on Sunday and Monday night from 6-8 PM in Gates 104.
  • 2/07/08: We've posted a course evaluation to get feedback on how the course is going and how we can make it better. Please fill it out here when you can.
  • 2/06/08: Quiz 5 is available at https://www.stanford.edu/class/cs228/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi.
  • 2/06/08: Solutions to Problem Set #1 have been posted on the handouts page.
  • 2/05/08: Programming Assignment #2 has been posted on the handouts page.
  • 2/05/08: Quiz 2, Quiz 3, and Quiz 4 solutions are now available.
  • 1/30/08: Quiz 4 is available at https://www.stanford.edu/class/cs228/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi.
  • 1/29/08: Problem Set #2 has been posted on the handouts page.
  • 1/25/08: Quiz 3 is available at https://www.stanford.edu/class/cs228/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi.
  • 1/22/08: Programming Assignment #1 has been posted on the handouts page.
  • 1/16/08: One student purchased the course reader and then decided to drop the course. If you have not yet purchased the reader, you can contact that student at ajohna@stanford.edu.
  • 1/15/08: The solutions, explanations, and statistics of Quiz 1 are available at https://www.stanford.edu/class/cs228/Handouts/quiz1-sol.html
  • 1/15/08: Problem Set #1 has been posted on the handouts page.
  • 1/11/08: For those who haven't received the reader yet, we've posted Chapter 5 on coursework so that you can do the reading for the quiz.
  • 1/10/08: A probability review (Problem Set #0) has been posted on the handouts page. This is designed to give you a sense of the expected level of the background for the course.
  • 1/9/08: Quiz 1 is now available at https://www.stanford.edu/class/cs228/cgi-bin/quiztest.cgi. Assigned readings and instructions for the quiz can be found at http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs228/assignments.html.
  • 12/30/07: The course reader is now available for online ordering at University Readers. The cost is $27.72 and they promise 1-2 day shipping. See below for more details on the reader.

    • Course Information

    228Lecture:TueThu 11:00-12:15PM, 3 units
    Location:Gates B01

    Useful Information and Handouts

  • Teaching Staff & Office Hours
  • Syllabus
  • Assignment Schedule
  • Handouts, Course Notes, Problem Sets
  • Class Wiki (Book Corrections and Partner Matching)
  • FAQ - problem set clarifications and other frequently asked questions

    • Course Description

    The course covers modeling (knowledge representation) languages suitable for dealing with an uncertain world. The focus is on probabilistic models, including Bayesian networks, Markov networks, hidden Markov models, and influence diagrams. The course will cover syntax, probabilistic semantics, inference, and learning algorithms for these frameworks. It will also discuss recent applications to domains such as speech recognition, medical diagnosis, data mining, statistical text modeling, and robot motion planning.

    Prerequisites

    Grading

    CS228 will have nine weekly quizzes, four problem sets, three programming assignments, and a take-home Final Problem Set (due dates are indicated on the syllabus). The programming assignments should be relatively short, about 30 to 50 lines of Matlab code. Problem sets must be handed in to the submission box at the bottom of the Gates A wing (West) stairwell by the beginning of class on the day they are due. Programming assignments must be submitted electronically by 11:59 PM on the due date. Recognizing that students may face unusual circumstances and require some flexibility in the course of the quarter, each student will have a total of seven free late (calendar) days to use as s/he sees fit. Once these late days are exhausted, any homework turned in late will be penalized at the rate of 20% per late day (or fraction thereof). Under no circumstances will a homework be accepted more than five days after its due date. Furthermore, for some assignments less than five late days will be allowed. Late days are from 11:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Late homeworks should be turned in to the submission box. You must write the time and date of submission on the assignment. It is an honor code violation to write down the wrong time.

    Programming assigments may be completed in teams of up to 2 students, will be implemented in MATLAB, and will typically require around 30-50 lines of coding. We will provide starter code and stubbed out functions that you will be implementing. The actually coding will tend to be relatively straightforward, so even students with little MATLAB experience should be able to complete the assignments. Late days also apply to programming assignments, and will be applied to everyone in the team. If you turn in a programming assignment one day late and you have no late days left, you will be penalized 20% while your partner will be deducted one late day.

    There will be nine quizzes, which will be available online and due by Sunday night of each week. The quizzes are meant to be simple and evaluate your basic comprehension of the readings. They are designed to keep all students up with the material, allowing lectures to focus on the more complex issues. Each student's top eight (highest scoring) quizzes will count in the grade.

    Quizzes will count for 10% of the final grade, analytical components of the homework will count for 40%, programming components will count for 30%, and the Final will count for the last 20%. Some extra credit may be awarded for class participation.

    CS228 may be taken pass/no-credit. The requirements are as specified in the university regulations. You take the class, and get a letter grade as per the standard grading curve. Any letter grade higher than a C- is a passing grade, otherwise not. As a side note, we recommend at least attempting most of the work, since much of the learning occurs through solving homework problems.

    Collaboration and Honor Code


    Communication

    We strongly encourage students to come to office hours. If that is not possible, the questions should be sent to the staff list (cs228-qa@cs.stanford.edu), not to the individual TAs and not to the general cs228 mailing list. If a homework clarification is posted after a student has completed an assignment, the student should contact us as soon as possible to check if the assumptions s/he made are going to be accepted.

    As explained above, late homeworks should be turned in to the submission box at the bottom of the Gates A wing (West) stairwell.

    Please do not e-mail TAs with grading questions. If you want us to explain why we took points off, you can talk to us after class or during office hours. If you want a regrade, please write an explanation and hand the homework and the explanation to the TAs during office hours or after class.

    Occasionally we may need to broadcast a message to entire class. When you sign up on Axess, you will automatically be subscribed to the CS228 Mailing List.


    Textbook Information

    The primary reading materials will be the draft textbook by Professor Koller, co-authored with Nir Friedman. A reader with many of the chapters is available for order online from University Readers. The cost is $27.72 and they promise 1-2 day shipping. Please contact us if you have problem ordering from them. Additional chapters from the book will be handed out in class throughout the quarter.

    Optional books containing relevant material (on reserve at the Math & CS library):

    Of these, Pearl's book will be the most appropriate additional source for the first few weeks of the class, and the Cowell et al. book the best additional source for most of the rest of the class.

    Comments to CS228 Staff