cmput 355   games, puzzles, algorithms

• intro   course intro

• go   rules, learn

• prologue   AlphaGo, the end of an era

• life   Conway's game of life

• maze traversal puzzle   random walk, bfs, dfs

• sliding tile puzzle   bfs, knowledge

• wordle puzzle  

• peg solitaire  

• 2-player games minimax, αβ

• tic-tac-toe game   αβ-negamax

• nim game   dynamic programming, knowledge

• chess game

• hex game   properties, tips, solving

• rock-paper-scissors

• monte carlo tree search   pure mcts, improvements

• AlphaGo   AlphaZero, and beyond

• solving go

• we are dealing with covid

• we are dealing with provincial government cuts to health care, education, and higher education

• thank you for your patience

• room, bar, classroom: virus

CMPUT 355 is a course on algorithms used to play or solve puzzles (1-player games) or 2-player games, e.g.

• Conway’s game of life

• mazes, peg solitaire, sliding tile

• tic-tac-toe, nim, clobber, hex, go, rock-paper-scissors, Kuhn poker.

CMPUT 355

• is intended for general science students but open to anyone

• has any CMPUT 2xx course for prereq

• is the first course in the two-course stream 355-455, but 355 is not required for 455

• is not easy: in recent years students (even those with an A average in other classes) who did not do the homework usually got a grade of F or D

• are there labs or seminars?     no

• is knowing how to code a prerequisite?     no, but you will read python code and might have to make small changes to a working program … if you have never coded before, we might be able to find a volunteer to help you get started

• what will the quizzes and final be like?     possibly long answer, short answer, fill in the blank, multiple choice

• course resources?     these webnotes

• evaluation ?     see eclass

• these web notes (there is no required text)

• python3 code on github

• e-book access (requires UAlberta ccid and password) for supplemental reading on game of Hex

• netiquette

• lectures follow these webnotes

• you are responsible for preparing your own notes

  • to get you started, here are my notes from the first 3 lectures (just a pdf of the webnotes)

  • first 3 lectures pdf

  • 2 course intro, Tromp-Taylor rules explained

  • 1 course outline, rules of go

• online lectures are recorded on eclass, under reference materials

  • don't have eclass access yet? here are the 1st 5 lectures

  • zoom lecture 5 (Jan 20) passcode Z7C=?NIf

  • zoom lecture 4 (Jan 18) passcode L%88u=ht

  • zoom lecture 3 (Jan 13) passcode !U#+js1@

  • zoom lecture 2 (Jan 11) passcode Y=22jJ&A

  • zoom lecture 1 (Jan 6) passcode k.fj?dF9

• asn 8

• asn 7

• asn 6

• asn 5

• asn 4

• asn 3

• asn 2

• asn 1

• when preparing this year's final exam, I look over the semester's lecture notes, homeworks, and quizzes

  • content in this course varies from year to year

  • form and/or content of this year's final exam might differ significantly from previous years

  • old final exams (I do not supply hints or answers)   final2016   final2018

  • 2020 final grades   final exam avg   final course avg