FoCS Practicals Michaelmas 2015

These ML exercises run alongside the Foundations in Computer Science course given by Professor Paulson. They are called ticks to emphasise that they are binary pass/fail rather than actively graded.

Exam Requirements

Starred Ticks

Each tick is accompanied by a starred tick (i.e. 1*, 2*, 3*, 4* and 5*). These are strictly optional and will not contribute to the final mark for the year. Nonetheless you may find it very valuable to attempt these ticks

Assessment

The Role of Tickers

A ticking session is a short (5 minute) one-to-one session with a ticker conducted on Thursday afternoons between 2 and 5pm. The role of the ticker is twofold:

  1. to check you understand your solution (and didn’t just have some lucky guesses or copy code from elsewhere);

  2. to give you general feedback on ways to improve your code.

To those ends a Ticker will typically ask you questions related to the core material of the tick and discuss your code directly.

Help Sessions and Forums

On the basis of past experience, as many students will find the exercises too easy as find them too hard. Likewise, as many students will find that the exercises take a very short time as find they take too much time. The average time spent on each weekly exercise is approximately three hours, but times wildly different from this average may be expected!

There are different ways to get assistance if you find yourself stuck on any tick:

Deadline Extensions

Deadline extensions can be granted for illness or similar reasons. To obtain an extension please email in the first instance, clearly stating your justification for an extension and CCing your Director of Studies.

Errata and Problems

Please email if you spot any errors in these ticks or you have any difficulties submitting your work.