Prerequisites
This is a 4-unit course. For undergraduates or masters students in CS or SymSys, CS147 or CS247 is a prerequisite. All graduate and PhD students from other departments are welcome. Graduate students with a unit cap may enroll for 3 units; the workload is the same.
Attendance
We expect attendance and active participation in lecture and discussion section. Discussion is important, because it is how we probe and deepen our understandings of this material. This course is not SCPD, so lectures are not recorded. All students can miss up to two discussion sections for any reason (e.g., illness, interviews, conflicts) without penalty. Any sections missed beyond two will count against the attendance and participation grade. If you have exhausted your two freebies and are experiencing extenuating circumstances that will cause you to miss additional section, email your TA and we will work out an individual plan. Full credit for section attendance requires that you arrive on time, before section starts. Full credit also requires that you be actively engaged, not simply present.
Grading
30% reading commentaries
Students should submit a short commentary for each individual reading on Canvas.
Commentaries will be graded on a check-minus/check/check-plus scale. These scores correspond to B, A, and A+ respectively.
We will drop the four lowest commentary grades at the end of class: meaning, you may drop four readings’ (not four days’) worth of commentaries. You may pass for any reason (e.g., personal or family matters, conflicting deadlines). There are no exemptions beyond this. These exempted commentaries should be specifically noted as being passed on. You will receive a check on any commentary that you pass.
40% four quizzes
There will be four in-class quizzes, one every other week. They will cover the material from the previous two weeks of readings and lectures and be worth 10% each. All quizzes will be closed-note.
20% final exam
The final exam will cover the entire course, including the final two weeks. It will be at least twice the length of the earlier quizzes. The final exam will be closed-note.
5% discussant
Lead discussion in section, as described in the Discussant page
5% participation
Class participation grades are based on whether you productively contribute to the classroom discussions in lecture and section.
Late Policy
Late commentaries and discussant submissions will not be accepted. You can already pass on four commentaries, and section commentaries (as a discussant) must be completed on time for the discussion to function properly.
Regrades
It is very important to us that all assignments are properly graded. The teaching staff works extremely hard to grade fairly and to turn around assignments quickly. We know that you work hard, and we respect that. Occasionally, mistakes happen, and it’s important to us to correct them. If you believe there is an error in your assignment grading, please submit an explanation in writing to the staff within seven days of receiving the grade. We will regrade the entire assignment to ensure quality.
No regrade requests will be accepted orally, and no regrade requests will be accepted more than seven days after receipt of the assignment. Regrade requests must be respectful; we will not consider any regrade requests containing disrespectful language.
Academic Accommodations
Stanford is committed to providing equal educational opportunities for disabled students. Disabled students are a valued and essential part of the Stanford community. We welcome you to our class.
If you experience disability, please register with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate your needs, support appropriate and reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Academic Accommodation Letter for faculty. To get started, or to re-initiate services, please visit oae.stanford.edu.
If you already have an Academic Accommodation Letter, we invite you to share your letter with us. Academic Accommodation Letters should be shared at the earliest possible opportunity so we may partner with you and OAE to identify any barriers to access and inclusion that might be encountered in your experience of this course.
Students who are immunocompromised should register with the OAE as soon as possible.
Student athletes who anticipate challenges in being able to participate in class or submit assignments on time should speak to a course instructor or teaching assistant as soon as possible about available alternatives or allowances.
Please send any accomodations letters to the teaching team at cs347@cs.stanford.edu.
Stanford University Honor Code
It is expected that you accurately represent your own work and the work of others in this class. Ideas should be your own. You may only use AI tools like ChatGPT to improve the clarity of your writing, not generate content. If you use AI, you must credit it in your submission.
The Honor Code is a part of this course. The Honor Code is the university’s statement on academic integrity written by students in 1921. It articulates university expectations of students and faculty in establishing and maintaining the highest standards in academic work. The Honor Code is an undertaking of the students, individually and collectively: that they will not give or receive aid in examinations; that they will not give or receive unpermitted aid in class work, in the preparation of reports, or in any other work that is to be used by the instructor as the basis of grading; that they will do their share and take an active part in seeing to it that others as well as themselves uphold the spirit and letter of the Honor Code. The faculty on its part manifests its confidence in the honor of its students by refraining from proctoring examinations and from taking unusual and unreasonable precautions to prevent the forms of dishonesty mentioned above. The faculty will also avoid, as far as practicable, academic procedures that create temptations to violate the Honor Code. While the faculty alone has the right and obligation to set academic requirements, the students and faculty will work together to establish optimal conditions for honorable academic work.
Names and Pronouns
Use the names and pronouns (e.g., they/them, she/her, he/him, just a name, or something else) indicated by your classmates for themselves. If you don’t want to share a set of pronouns for yourself, that is perfectly acceptable, too. If your name or pronouns change during the course, we invite you to share this with us and/or other students, so we may talk with you and refer to your ideas in discussion as you would wish.
Harassment
It’s possible for even well-intentioned students to accidentally alienate your peers. Comments can make unwelcome assumptions that don’t fit some lives, and it’s also possible for critiques and conversations to constitute what’s called harassment. Harassment means unwelcome or even hostile behavior, including speech, that intimidates, creates discomfort, or interferes with a person’s participation or opportunity for participation. That behavior will shut the person down in class, and that is simply not fair and not something we want. Harassment can involve nationality, age, color, creed, disability, gender, sexual orientation or any other protected status. It also extends to unwelcome sexual advances. A response that the participant was “just joking,” or “teasing,” or being “playful,” is not acceptable. If you have witnessed or experienced any harassment that you wish to report, please let an instructor know privately and promptly.
University employees – including professors and TAs – are obligated by Stanford to report what they know about incidents of sexual or relationship violence, stalking and sexual harassment to the Sexual Harassment Policy Office. If you would like to talk with a confidential resource you can contact the Confidential Support Team at their 24/7 hotline: 650-725-9955. You can read more at http://vaden.stanford.edu/sexual-assault. If you have any questions about responsible employee requirements or campus resources on sexual violence, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.