CS 6375 Machine Learning

Fall 2005

Lecture Time and Place: Mon and Wed 12:30-1:45pm, ECSS 2.411
Course Website: http://www.hlt.utdallas.edu/~vince/cs6375

Instructor: Vincent Ng, ECSS 3.404, 883-4581, vince@hlt.utdallas.edu

Office Hours: Mon and Wed 1:45-2:15pm, Tue 1-2pm, or by appointment

Course Description:
Machine learning is concerned with the question of how to construct programs that
automatically improve their performance through experience. This course introduces
students to the principles underlying the design of existing supervised and unsupervised
machine learning algorithms. Topics to be covered include:
1. Learning algorithms and models
• Decision trees (C4.5)
• Rule learning and inductive logic programming (RIPPER, FOIL)
• Linear threshold units (Winnow, perceptron, boosting, SVMs)
• Artificial neural networks
• Probabilistic representations (naïve Bayes, Bayesian trees, HMMs)
• Clustering: K-means, COBWEB, the EM algorithm
• Instance-based (nearest-neighbor) algorithms
• Genetic algorithms
• Multi-strategy learning, combining techniques, bagging
2. Computational learning theory
• PAC learning, risk minimization, VC dimension
• The mistake bound framework
3. Techniques
• Dimensionality reduction, principal component analysis

Course Goals:
The goal of this course is to introduce students to current machine learning methods. It is
intended to provide enough background to allow students to apply machine learning
techniques to learning problems in a variety of application areas. Since this is a graduate
introduction to machine learning, we will emphasize skills required to understand and
extend existing research in machine learning.

Text:
Machine Learning, Tom Mitchell, McGraw Hill, 1997.

Prerequisites:
This course has no prerequisites other than a facility with programming (in C/C++ or
Java). Elementary knowledge of logic, calculus and probability theory is also assumed.
CS6364 (Artificial Intelligence) is recommended but not required.
Evaluation:
Homework (35%): There will be 6-8 problem sets. They will consist of a combination of
written problems and programming assignments.

Final project and paper (25%): You will also complete a machine learning project of
your choosing. The project may be done individually or in groups of two. The results of
the project will be written up in a short paper (seven pages maximum). It is due at the end
of the semester. Your project grade will be based on six components: the proposal, the
quality and novelty of the idea investigated, the code that you write, the project
presentation, the demo, and the final report. There will be a separate handout on the
course project and paper.

Midterm (20%): There will be an in-class midterm, tentatively scheduled on Monday,

October 17.

Final (20%): There will be a comprehensive in-class final, tentatively scheduled on

Monday, November 28 (the last day of class).

Course Policies:
Collaboration policy: You may discuss written homework problems and general
solution strategies with each other, but you must develop the details yourself and write up
solutions separately without the aid of collaborative notes. For programming assignments,
all code that you turn in must be entirely yours. In any case, one student should never
have a copy of even part of another student’s homework. If there is any doubt about
whether something is allowed, ask the instructor.

Citation policy: You are allowed to consult other books, web pages, and so forth, but
you must cite your sources if you do so (this includes mentioning who you worked with),
and you must write up your answer in such a way as to demonstrate that you understand
the solution. This implies that simply copying answers from other sources is not
acceptable. When in doubt, ask beforehand!

Academic integrity policy: You are expected to maintain the utmost level of academic
integrity in the course, in accordance with the academic integrity policy of the Regents of
the University of Texas. In particular, (a) it is your responsibility to protect your work
from unauthorized access, and (b) the work you submit is expected to be your own.
Academic dishonesty has no place in a university or anywhere else: it wastes our time
and yours, and it is unfair to everyone else. Any violation of this code will be penalized,
as we take this issue very seriously.

Late assignment policy: Barring extenuating circumstances, all problem sets must be
turned in on the date specified. Assignments turned in within 24 hours of the due date
will be penalized one full grade (e.g. A B). Assignments turned in within 48 hours of
the due date will be penalized two full grades (e.g. A C). Assignments more than 48
hours late will not be accepted. Sorry.
Regrade policy: The course staff will grade your work carefully. However, questions
about grading do occasionally arise. If so, first read the solutions. If questions persist,
please see the grader of that problem (come to office hours or schedule an appointment).
In the interests of smooth administration and also to encourage you to look at your graded
work soon after it is returned, regrade requests must be made within three weeks of when
the work was returned. We reserve the rights to make regrade decisions “off-line” (i.e.,
not immediately at the time requested).

Important Dates

First class Monday, August 22

Adding a Course (last day) Wednesday, August 24
Graduation application deadline Thursday, August 25
Census Day (Last Day to drop without "W") Friday, September 2
Labor Day NO SCHOOL Monday, September 5
Project Proposal Due Wednesday, October 5
Midterm Monday, October 17
Last Day to withdraw with an automatic “W” Tuesday, November 1
Final Exam Monday, November 28
Final Paper Due 12:30pm, Monday, December 5