University of Toronto - Fall 2016
Department of Computer Science

CSC 2542: Topics in KR&R: Algorithms for Sequential Decision Making

Course Announcements

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December 8 Project Report Deadline Changed: The deadline for the project report is now 11:59pm on December 15. In addition, all students have been given two more grace days in addition to however many they may have left.
November 11 3rd reading for November 17 has been updated. Please consult the list of papers linked from the main web page.
November 4 Policy regarding weekly readings and submission of answers to questions:
Each week, 1 - 3 papers will be presented by fellow students. Associated with each paper are one or two simple questions. Each week, students registered in the course are required to read the assigned papers, and to submit answers to the associated questions via email (csc2542profs-at-cs-dot-toronto-dot-edu) prior to the start of the class in which the papers are being presented, with the following exceptions:
  • Students may use their grace days to hand in their questions late. Recall that you each were given 2 grace days for the course. Same day but after class will use up 1 grace day.
  • In the week when you are presenting, you do not have to submit answers to the questions for that week's papers.
  • Additionally, everyone gets "one week off" where they don't have to submit answers to questions.
  • Finally, students who gave software presentations will get a further "week off" so they are not unfairly burdened.
  • Marks are assigned for your answers (which we do not expect to be lengthy) and for participation in the discussion in class.
October 31 Class Paper Presentations: the assignment of papers for presentation has been posted to the main course web page.
October 24 Computational Resources Page posted: We have created a computational resources page as a resource for your projects. This is a living document. Please contribute other useful resources you find.
October 22 Project proposal extension: The project proposal will now be due on Friday, November 4 at 5pm. (Email pdf to csc2542profs@cs.you-know-the-rest).
October 22 Please read Chapter 6, Temporal-Difference Learning from Sutton and Barto 2nd edition for next week (Oct 27). A link to the draft of the book is on the slides page. You may also wish to read chapter 7 on Eligibility Traces, but this is optional.
October 22 Extra help with your project: On Wednesday October 26 from 1-3pm in Pratt 266 (6 King's College Road), we will be meeting with groups individually to help them develop their project. Others are welcome to congregate and listen in on the project discussions, as well as to continue to use the time to set up project teams.
October 22 Find project team mates:On Monday October 24 at 4-5:30pm in Pratt 378 (6 King's College Road), we will be having a meeting to help people find teammates for their project. At the meeting, people will have an opportunity to declare their interests, if they have a project idea and are looking for teammates, or if they are looking for a project to join.
October 20 Talk of interest: On Thursday, October 27, noon Rich Sutton will be giving a talk on Advances in Reinforcement Learning at the Field's Institute, as part of a Machine Learning Advances and Applications Seminar Series. If you have not registered for the series (and it is now sold out), Field's said that they will stream and record the talk via FieldsLive (http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/live) unless Rich Sutton does not want us to. Also, they have set aside room 210 (across the atrium from the main room, 230) as an overflow room for 20 - 30 people, and will stream the talk there.
October 20 Course Projects:
  • Remember that project proposals are due on October 31. UPDATE: Now due November 4. See Update on October 22. If you'd like to meet with Rick and Sheila to discuss your proposal, please email them to make an appointment and/or grab them after class.
  • Finding a project team -- If you have an idea for a project and would like group members, or if you're interested in looking for group members to join you in a group project, please use piazza to help with this. There is a topic set up for people wanting to find project teams.
October 20 Course Presentations:
  • Email was sent out on October 19 requesting that you fill out a google spreadsheet to rank your top 10 choices for course presentations. The deadline for this is Sunday, October 23 at 6:00 PM. If you didn't receive the email, please let us know.
October 20 A reminder that the deadline to drop graduate courses is October 31 (not that we want you to drop the course)!
October 17 Just a reminder that we are communicating with the class via this announcements page, email, and piazza. If you are not receiving email, please contact the professors to let us know.
October 14 Please read Chapter 5, Monte Carlo Methods, from Sutton and Barto 2nd edition for next week (Oct 20). A link to the draft of the book is on the slides page. You may also wish to read chapters 1 and 2 on The Reinforcement Learning Problem and the Multi-Arm Bandits, but these are optional.
October 6 Please read Chapter 4, Dynamic Programming, from Sutton and Barto 2nd edition for next week (Oct 13). A link to the draft of the book is on the slides page.
October 3 The assignment has been posted. It is due on October 17.
September 29 We've set up a piazza instance and registered many of you using the email that is included with your course registration. We'll send you email to that account so you can confirm. If you are not registered, you can self register.
September 29 For the October 6 class please read:
September 28 Tomorrow, we will be using the tutorial slot from 4:00 -- 5:00pm to discuss the assignment, which will be released soon.
September 22 Today in class, we looked at automated planning, its many variants, and the basics of solving planning tasks through search. For next week, please read "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Planning (But Were Afraid to Ask)" by Jörg Hoffmann
September 19 We have a new classroom! It's farther from DCS, but it won't be a fire hazard, and we have it reserved for 3 hours, so have the option to hold (infrequent) tutorials from 4:00 -- 5:00 pm in the same room. We'll discuss the convenience of this new tutorial time with the class.
August 2 We hope to see you in this fun course!
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