Hello Theory (CS3102) Students,

<p>

Some more announcements:

<p>

<ul>

<li> Here is another <font color=red>extra-credit</font> opportunity:
this Friday (Feb 19, 3:30pm, Rice 130) one of our recent
Ph.D. graduate students <a href=http://jasonmars.org/>Jason Mars</a>
(who is now a professor at the University of Michigan) will give an
interesting invited talk about his research - for details please see
<a href=http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/jasonmars.jpg>this
flyer</a> (and here is <a
href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS-Dyb_uvcs>his research
showcased in a video</a>.  Please attend this talk (for extra-credit,
and Email us a summary to the usual class submissions Email address).

<p>

<li> Since we started to talk about infinities in class, and the book
<a href=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691001723/>"Infinity and the
Mind"</a> is required reading, please start reading this book this
week (you can buy it for one penny from Amazon, and a PDF copy of it
can be found <a
href=https://mega.co.nz/#!MZFy1CTL!b7n6BgoQEZntINE8LOKfW3QniAZFn0plhYh57S5-huY>here</a>
and in DJVU format <a href=http://en.bookfi.net/book/826863>here</a>).

<p>

<li> The <font color=red>midterm</font> will take place the week of
March 21-25.  The midterm will be an open-book open-notes take-home
exam, where you can work on it for up to six contiguous hours (chosen
by you anytime during a several-day-long window, to give you extra
scheduling flexibility and convenience).  The midterm (and final) exam
problems will come directly from the problem sets posted on the class
Web site.

<p>

<li> Some people asked if you can submit other readings (in addition
to those posted on the class Web site) and still be credited for them
in this class.  My main goal with the class readings is to encourage
everyone to become more informed about a large diversity of scientific
topics, which will in turn help them become better problem solvers and
deeper thinkers.  Anything that furthers that overarching goal is a
wonderful thing in my view.  So yes, you can read other interesting
articles in the same vein as the ones that I posted on the class Web
site, and we will give you extra-credit for those.

<p>

Note however, that you should still read at least 50 items from the
class Web site, where additional ones, or ones that you propose
yourself, will go into the extra-credit category.  And three items
from the class Web sites are still due each Monday (these weekly
due-dates are mandatory, not optional, in order to help you avoid a
self-inflicted cramming crisis at the end of the semester).

<p>

<li> In general, I want to encourage and enable people to be
proactive, curious, knowledgeable, and informed - the rest is up to
you (and I will do my part to reward anyone whenever they take steps
in that general good direction). I think this is teaching and learning
at its best (and I wish that my professors did more of this for me
when I was a student).  I hope that my teaching philosophy and
strategy make sense to you, and that you are enjoying and benefiting
from the freedom and flexibility that I am affording you.

</ul>

<p>

Thanks,

<p>

Gabe

<p>

<pre>
======================================================
Dr. Gabriel Robins
Professor of Computer Science

Department of Computer Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science
University of Virginia
151 Engineer's Way
P.O. Box 400740
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4740
(434) 982-2207
robins@cs.virginia.edu
www.cs.virginia.edu/robins
======================================================
</pre>