Comprehensive Course in Computer Science - Theoretical Computer Science

Besides the explanation in General Course Information, the following notes about this course implementation are very important. Read them carefully!

1. Timing -- in-classroom hours:
   • This course in this study year is composed of 45 hours of lectures and 45 hours of practical work;
   • Taking into account the 15 week semester, this means 3 hours of lectures and 3 hours of practical work weekly;
   • This course will be taught entirely in English language;
   • The 8^th and the 15^th (last) week of the lectures will be devoted to the mid-term exams ==> there will be no lectures on those weeks;
   • Practical work will be exacuted in 1 group, no computers will be needed;
2. Students' obligations --> reaching the final grade:
   • HW - The purpose of the homeworks is to continuously assess your knowledge:
     • the homeworks will always be given by the teacher of the course,
     • typically, the homeworks will be given weekly immediately after a lecture,
     • the homeworks will be given in the e-classroom in an "electronic" form,
     • the deadline for a homework will always be 1 week,
     • each homework will have an additional deadline extension of an extra 1 week after the given deadline (2 week total time) - this is the so called "late submission week",
     • after a homework's "closure" no more submissions will be possible,
     • each homework will be grade as follows:
       • from 50 to 100 points = homework "correctly" solved and submitted by the deadline,
       • from 25 to 50 points = homework "correctly" solved, but submitted in the "late submission week",
       • 0 points = homework "incorrectly" solved or not submitted.
     • the cumulative grade of all homeworks is given on a scale from 0 to 100 points and is calculated by averaging the number of points of individual homeworks,
     • the homeworks are successfully completed if at least 50% of the points are achieved in the cumulative homeworks grade,
     • the homeworks account for 35% of the final grade points.
   • W - The written assessment will be in the form of a written exam or, equivalently, 2 mid-term exams:
     • there will be 4 exam dates for the written exam in this academic year 2019/20 (2 dates in the June exam period and 2 dates in the August/September exam period),
     • the 1^st mid-term's exam date will be in the week between the 6^th and 10^th of April, 2020 -- in place of that week's lecture,
     • the 2^nd  mid-term's exam date will be in  the last week of the (spring) semester -- between the 25^th and 29^th of May, 2020 (in place of the last lecture),
     • the written assessment is successfully completed if:
       • at least 50% of the points are achieved on the written exam, or
       • at least 50% of the points are achieved by averaging the numbers of points from both mid-term exams, where additionally, at least 40% of points are achieved on one of the mid-term exams.
     • the result of the written assessment is given on a scale from 0 to 100 points,
     • each of the mid-term exams is graded on a scale from 0 to 100 points,
     • the written assessment grade accounts for 50% of the final grade points.
   • Q - Quizzes at the end of groups of lectures (non-compulsory):
     • a quiz will be given after each group of lectures,
     • there will be all together 5 quizzes given in the e-classroom in an "electronic" form,
     • every quiz will be composed of 10 questions,
     • exactly 2 weeks of time will be given to solve each quiz,
     • quizzes are graded automatically on a scale from 0 to 100 points,
     • the average quizzes grade accounts for 15% of the final grade points.
   • Final grade points and final grade calculation:
   1. • the final grade points are calculated by the following formula: 0.35×HW + 0.5×W + 0.15×Q, where:
        • HW = number of grade points achieved on the homeworks,
        • W = number of grade points achieved on the written assessment,
        • Q = number of grade points achieved on the (non-compulsory) quizzes.
      • the final grade points are transformed into the final grade by the following transformation table:
        • 95 to 100 points = excellent (10),
        • 85 to 94.99 points = very good (9),
        • 75 to 84.99 points = very good (8),
        • 65 to 74.99 points = good (7),
        • 50 to 64.99 points = sufficient (6),
        • less than 50 points = insufficient (fail).
3. Prior knowledge:
   • this course does not require any prior knowledge from the students.
4. Software tools that will be used on the lectures and during practical work sessions:
   • JFlap (http://www.jflap.org/),
   • A more advanced text editor.
5. Literature:
   • for successfully completing this course you will need no mandatory literature -- attending the lectures and practical work sessions should suffice --> all the needed materials will be provided in the e-classroom,
   • for a more in-depth knowledge of the field of formal languages and computability, the following sources are recommended:
     • John C. Martin, Introduction to Languages and the Theory of Computation (fourth edition), McGraw-Hill, 2010,
     • John E. Hopcroft, Rajeev Motwani, Jeffrey D. Ullman, Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation (third edition), Addison-Wesley, 2006, (:-))
     • Other freely available web sources.
6. Communication between the teacher, assistant and students:
   • the preferable way of communicating is through the e-classroom -- there are 2 forums available for this purpose:
     • the Announcements forum is for the teacher and/or assistant to inform the students about possible (un)expected activities on the course (e.g.: if lectures or practical session is off, the opening words, announcement of the written exam or mid-term, ...),
     • the Student's Forum is dedicated to all course participants, mainly to students. You can use this forum to communicate between you or with the teacher and the assistant about things connected to this course.
   • for a more "personal" way of communicating with the teacher and/or assistant, our e-mail are:
     • teacher's e-mail = branko.kavsek@upr.si,
     • assistant's e-mail = balazs.david@famnit.upr.si.
   • in person, we will be available before and, preferably after each lecture and/or practical work session or (upon appointment) in our offices.
7. Solving potential problems and/or misunderstandings:
   • if a "more severe" problem and/or misunderstanding arises during this course, we shall try to solve it using the following protocol:
     • Step 1: talk about it with the assistant and/or the teacher of the course; if this does not solve it,
     • Step 2: talk about it with the vice-coordinator of the Computer Science study program, assist. prof. Matjaž Kljun; if this does not solve it,
     • Step 3: talk about it with the vice-dean for study affairs at UP FAMNIT, assoc. prof. Dunja Bandelj; if this does not solve it,
       
     • Step 4: talk about it with the dean at UP FAMNIT, assoc. prof. dr. Ademir Hujdurović.
   • the assistant and I shall do our best to avoid any problem and/or misunderstanding or at least see that we never go past the Step 1 in the above protocol.