A guide to new and revised course offerings for Fall '08 in CS.
Note that, effective Fall '08, only four-digit course numbers are used. A three-digit to four-digit conversion table is available at www.cs.cornell.edu/gries/courses.
The course formerly known as CS/INFO 130 is now two courses:
CS 1301: Introduction to Programming Web Applications
Weeks 1-7. 2 credits. Students must enroll in both CS 1301 and 1302.
CS 1302: Introduction to Designing Web Applications
Weeks 8-14. 2 credits. Students must enroll in both CS 1301 and 1302. Prerequisite: CS 1301 or equivalent knowledge.
CS 1620 is meeting TR 11:15-12:05 in 157 E. Sibley.
CS 4410/4411 UPDATED: will be offered in Fall '08 and Spring '09. Unlike in previous spring offerings, students may opt to take CS 4411 but are not required to do so.
CS 4450: Computer Networks will be offered in Fall '08 instead of Spring '09. Effective immediately, the time has been changed to MW 8:40-9:55am and location to Hollister 110.
CS 4520: Introduction to Bioinformatics will be offered in Fall '08, not Spring '09.
CS 4740: Introduction to Natural Language Processing will be offered in Spring '09.
CS 4782: Probabilistic Graphical Models (also BTRY 4790)
Prerequisites: probability theory (BTRY 4080 or equivalent), programming and data structures (CS 2110 or equivalent); a course in statistical methods is recommended but not required (BTRY 4090 or equivalent).A thorough introduction to graphical models, a flexible and powerful framework for machine learning and probabilistic modeling that combines graph theory and probability theory. Covers both directed models (Bayesian networks) and undirected models, inference and parameter learning, and exact and approximate algorithms. Special cases such as hidden Markov models, tree-like Bayesian nets, and conditional random fields are discussed in detail.
CS 5450 Advanced Computer Networks will not be offered in Spring 2009. Instead, it will be offered in Fall '08, co-meeting with CS 4450.
CS 5846: Decision Theory I (also ECON 4460/6760)
4 credits. Prerequisite: mathematical sophistication.Research on decision theory resides in a variety of disciplines including computer science, economics, game theory, philosophy, and psychology. This course attempts to integrate these various approaches. The course is taught jointly by faculty from Game Theory and Computer Science. The course covers several areas: (1) basic decision theory. This theory, sometimes known as “rational choice theory,” is part of the foundation for the disciplines listed above. It applies to decisions made by individuals or by machines; (2) the limitations of and problems with this theory. Issues discussed here include decision theory paradoxes revealed by experiments, cognitive and knowledge limitations, and computational issues; (3) new research designed in response to these difficulties. Issues covered include alternative approaches to the foundations of decision theory, adaptive behavior and shaping the individual decisions by aggregate/evolutionary forces and more computationally based approaches.
CS 6450: Research in Computer Networks will not be offered in 2008-2009.
CS 6650: Computational Motion
Prerequisites: Undergraduate-level understanding of algorithms, and some scientific computing.
Covers computational aspects of motion, broadly construed. Topics include the computer representation, modeling, analysis, and simulation of motion, and its relationship to various areas, including computational geometry, mesh generation, physical simulation, computer animation, robotics, biology, computer vision, acoustics, and spatio-temporal databases. Students implement several of the algorithms covered in the course and complete a final project.