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Contents

Welcome to the 2017 Edition of 6.034

Suggestions for subjects to take in the coming spring semester, 2018

Bob Berwick 6.863J Introduction to Natural Language Processing

Two of our 2017 right-now speakers in Brain and Cognitive Science are offering subjects of interest in this spring semester:

Nancy Kanwisher 9.11 The Human Brain
Pawan Sinha 9.60 Machine motivated human vision

Professor Kanwisher has suggested that many of you also would like 9.35:

Josh McDermott 9.35 Perceptual Systems

See the catelog descriptions for more information on 9.11, 9.35, and 9.60. Note that the prerequisites for these subjects are like stop signs in Massachusetts: merely suggestions. We have it on good authority that the official prerequisites for at least 9.11 and 9.35 have been relaxed, making Course VI majors welcome.

Other great subjects offered by right-now speakers are as follows:

Ed Boyden 20.309 Biological Instrumentation and Measurement
Nick Montfort CMS.846 The world made digital
CMS.844 Exploratory programming for the arts and humanities

And from a right-now speaker in a previous year:

Randall Davis 6.835Intelligent Multimodal Interaction

And finally, a new subject of note, likely already full:

Hal Abelson with Natalie Lao6.S198 Deep learning practicum


Alas, two other right-now speakers, Professors Patricia Maes and Gerald Sussman, will be on sabbatical.

Logistical stuff:

Reference stuff:

Note that the current staff mailing list is 6.034-2017-staff@.

News

Summer 2017

Special 2017 opportunity for extra units

The 2017 edition of 6.034 will offer an optional 3-unit add-on set of lectures given by Professor Robert C. Berwick. This addition will supplement the main lectures and recitations because it will focus on the science side of 6.034, addressing long-standing scientific questions and biological intelligence, rather than existing tools for building applications. Evolution and human language will be emphasized.

To avoid conflicts with other classes, Professor Berwick will offer the once-a-week extra session twice:

3-4 on Wednesdays 36-153

2-3 on Fridays. 36-155

You can attend either of the two sessions.

If you are interested, sign up for 6.S077 in addition to 6.034.

Special 2017 opportunity for graduate credit

The 2017 edition of 6.034 will offer an optional, experimental, graduate-credit version, for graduate students only, by Professor Gerald J. Sussman. Students involved will do all 6.034 classes, homework, and quizzes plus an extra class with Professor Sussman and extra work. You can read the prospectus here.

The class, 6.S966, will meet on Fridays, 11am-12noon, in 34-303.

If you are interested, register for 6.S966. When registering, you must explicitly register for 12 units; the registration software will try to default to 1 unit.

6.034 Lab 0 Released

Many students interested in taking 6.034 for credit wonder if their Python skills are adequate for the 6.034 laboratory assignments, especially those who have not taken 6.0001 or equivalent. The answer is to be found in Lab 0, which in past years we have released at the beginning of the semester.

You can look over Lab 0 now, before the semester begins, so that you can determine if you should review Python for a day or two before the semester begins. You can find Lab 0 here.

If you have any questions, email the 6.034 staff at 6.034-2017-staff@.

About 6.034, Fall 2017 Edition

In the fall semester of 2017, 6.034 will meet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 to 11 in 10-250. Most, but not all of Professor Winston's lectures will be on Monday and Wednesday. On many, but not all Fridays, you will learn about what is happening in the field right now from someone who is doing work right now in an area related to the Monday and Wednesday lectures.

Examinations will cover material from the traditional lectures as well as the right-now lectures. It will be extremely difficult to field questions on the right-now material if you do not attend the right-now lectures because the material is not yet in textbooks or, in many cases, published papers.

Recitations (previously known as "tutorials") will meet weekly on Monday and Tuesday. On the first day of class, you will fill out a form that will enable us to assign you to a recitation.

6.034 is no longer offered in the spring term.

More details will emerge during the first lecture.

We are pleased to note that Bloomberg has listed 6.034 as among "Five of the Best Computer Science Classes in the U.S." What they meant to say is that 6.034 has had outstanding TAs.

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