Princeton University Computer Science Department

Computer Science 116 The Computational Universe Sanjeev Arora

Spring 2006

Course Summary

Computers have brought the world to our fingertips. We will try to understand at a basic level the science -- old and new -- underlying this new Computational Universe. Our quest takes us on a broad sweep of scientific knowledge and related technologies: propositional logic of the ancient Greeks (microprocessors); quantum mechanics (silicon chips); network and system phenomena (internet and search engines); computational intractability (secure encryption); and efficient algorithms (genomic sequencing). Ultimately, this study makes us look anew at ourselves -- our genome; language; music; "knowledge"; and, above all, the mystery of our intelligence.

This course satisfies Princeton's Science and Technology (with Lab) Distribution requirement.

Administrative Information

Professor: Sanjeev Arora, 307 CS Building, 258-3869, arora@cs.princeton.edu

Teaching Assistants: J. Alex Halderman (Head TA), Umar Syed and David Xiao

Course staff email: (Please use this address to contact the course staff)

Office Hours:
Prof. Arora: Tue 3 - 4pm, Fri 1:15 - 2:15pm, CS 307
Umar: Wed 4:30 - 6pm, CS 001C
Dave: Thu 3 - 4:30pm, CS 103B

Precepts:
Umar: Mon 6:15 - 7pm, Friend 005
Dave: Tue 6:15 - 7pm, Friend 005

Labs:
Session 1: Mon 7pm - 10pm, Friend 005
Session 2: Tue 7pm - 10pm, Friend 005
Session 3: Wed 1:30pm - 4:20pm, Friend 005

Course blog: http://courseblog.cs.princeton.edu/spring06/cos116/

Policies

Lab reports and homeworks are due in the appropriately marked box at the start of lecture. Lab reports on Tuesday the week after the lab was finished. Homeworks on Thursdays, collected in the same fashion. Please do not send us emailed reports and homework---we cannot handle the email volume. (Please ignore any instructions to the contrary you may have been given by mistake. We will try to process anything you already emailed us, but it will be safest if you also print it out and put it in the bin on the due date.)

Extensions will be available if you send email to before the assignment/lab is due, explaining the circumstance that necessitates it. (Illness, absences due to sports, etc., must be documented with a note/email from a college administrator or suitable official.) Otherwise late homeworks/reports will receive  50% of the points (or even less if very late).

Missed a lab? Please try to make it up during another scheduled session the same week. If there is a reason you cannot attend any lab session during that week, please send email to explaining the circumstance and we will work out an alternative arrangement.

Collaboration policy: You may discuss the labs and assignments with other students, and you may ask for help from the professor or the TAs. However, you are not allowed to copy another student’s programs or answers. Any violations will be reported.

Course Plan (tentative)