COMP / ELEC / STAT 502
Spring 2026

Schedule

Additional, highly recommended reading from classis text books is also listed. The references to those are given in the Course materials.
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No.	Date		Topic		Lecture Notes & Handouts mandatory reading		Homework Upload an electronic copy to Canvas by 12:30pm on the due date, unless otherwise indicated.		Recommended Reading
1	Jan 13		Orientation, Introduction On your own: Review of basics (L2-ReviewOfBasics.pdf). This will help you, along with exercises in HW02, to gauge your preparedness and to catch up on background if needed. Notions / formulae that I collected in Lecture 2 (L2) will come up in various contexts at various times in the course. Alternatively, you can look these up when the time comes :-)		L1-Introduction-502.pdf L2-ReviewOfBasics.pdf CF2/1		HW01 due 1/15. This is a very light (not real) home work. You will only have to submit answers to my survey to assess backgrounds. Do this HW individually. Form HW groups for HW2 and on. We will discuss HW groups in class.		Haykin Ch1 or Ham & Kostanic Ch 1, Ch2.1-3
2	Jan 15		Introduction, orientation, cont'd Train a single PE		L2-ReviewOfBasics.pdf L1.1-Training-a-single-PE.pdf CF2/1, CF2/2		HW02 due 1/24 Part of HW02 problems may be fully graded, others only for turning in and earnestly attempting them. See details in the posted HW02. The exact manner of grading will be determined according to grading help (TBD). The longer time (overlapping with HW03) is given so that HW groups can form and establish their collaboration.		Haykin Ch10 or Cover & Thomas Ch1 and Ch9
3	Jan 20		Associative memory		L4-AssociativeMemory.h.pdf and L4.x files CF1/2				7aykin Ch2.11 or Ham & Kostanic Ch 3.2
4	Jan 22		Associative memory, cont'd		updated L4-AssociativeMemory.h.pdf and L4.x files CF1/2				Haykin Ch2.11 or Ham & Kostanic Ch 3.2
5	Jan 27		Associative memory(wrap-up) Simple Perceptron		updated L4-AssociativeMemory.h.pdf and L4.x files CF1/2 L5-Perceptron.h.part1.pdf CF1/3		HW03		Haykin Ch2.11 or Ham & Kostanic Ch 3.2
6	Jan 29		Simple Perceptron		L5-Perceptrons.h.pdf and L.5x files CF1/3				Ham & Kostanic Ch 2.5-2.6; or Haykin Ch3
7	Feb 3		Preliminary to Multilayer Perceptron Multilayer Perceptron with Back Propagation		L6.0-Train-a-2layer-network.h.pdf L6-MultiLayerPerceptron.h.part1.pdf CF1/4		Recommended: experiment with Jesse Hellem's HW03 code after you are done with your HW03. Nothing to turn in, just enjoy running it and exploring limits with the characters.ascii data set (all letters plus 10 digits). Code will be available from after the late HW03 deadline passed, on Feb 7		Ham & Kostanic Ch 3.3.1; or Haykin Ch4.1-4.4
8	Feb 5		Multilayer Perceptron, cont'd Issues With Backprop		L6-MultiLayerPerceptron.h.pdf L7-IssuesWithMLPs.h.part1.pdf CF1/4		HW04 Part I due Feb 11 This is Part I of HW04. Part II will post on Feb 11 and will be due on Feb 19 (so two weeks for HW04 altogether). We will give you feedback on Part I before Part II is due and, in addition to using the feedback to imrpove Part II, you will have a chance to revise and resubmit Part I along with Part II. See details with the Assignment in Canvas.		Ham & Kostanic Ch 3.3.1; or Haykin Ch4.1-4.4
9	Feb 10		Issues With Backprop: Scaling, convergence, performance monitoring Matrix BP; practical items (time permitting)		L7-IssuesWithMLPs.h.pdf L7.1-Vector-matrix-BP.h.pdf L7.0x-HW04_sample-plots_xxx.pdf sample plots L7.3_Sample-parameter-table_502.pdf CF1/4				Ham & Kostanic Ch 3.3.2 - 3.3.7; or Haykin Ch4.5-4.8
	Feb 12		NO CLASS, Spring recess				HW04 Part II due Feb 19 Part I will have to be re-submitted together with and Part II, with optional revision to Part I. See details with the Assignment(s) in Canvas.

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