Syllabus for CSU 670 Spring 2009
=================================

This syllabus is subject to change. Some topics may be
shifted and repeated to stress their importance.

SDG Game Complexity Layers:

Level 1: T Ball
  (one relation per classic derivative)
Level 2: Slow pitch softball
  (one implication chain of relations per classic derivative)
Level 3: Fast pitch softball: several relations.
  Level k Independent: k relations without implication relationships.
  Level k Reduced: Several relations that can be reduced to 
    Level k Independent.
Level 4: Base ball
  (classic and secret derivatives)

Level i derivatives can also be offered and sold at level i+1.

Week 1:
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Subproject 1

The software development process

Incremental software development with SCRUM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(development)

Software Development Course by Immersion:
Learn about Process, Tools, Application Domain
Requirements Analysis: The requirement is simple:
maximize life energy or maximize money.

Intro to course (Immersion, etc.)
Games for robots to learn about
  software development and computer science in general
DemeterF: class dictionaries for OOD and language definition
Classic SDG SAT
Classic SDG CSP

Week 2:
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Subproject 2

Classic SDG CSP T Ball
Classic SDG CSP Slow Pitch Softball
Classic SDG CSP Fast Pitch Softball

Mapping a raw material M to a polynomial f[M](b),
called the look-ahead polynomial for the raw material.

Focusing on Classic SDG CSP T Ball
Computing break-even(d) for derivative d
The Generic Player 
(by Bryan Chadwick, the developer of DemeterF)
The Administrator
(by Alex Dubreuil)

Lab 1: DemeterF class dictionaries
Lab 2: DemeterF classes: Traversal, ID, Bc, TUCombiner 
                methods: traverse, combine

Week 3:
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Subproject 3
The Relation class: methods reduce and q
Definition of fsat(r,J)
Reducing a raw material in DemeterF
Computing the robot IQ.

Testing with JUnit 4 using annotations with DemeterF examples 
regression test suite to make your player robust

Playing T Ball game in class (allowed relations 1 - 7 and 128 and above, 
  only 4 variables per raw material)
Software development processes and their models
(requirements analysis testing design implementation)

Preview of Slow Pitch Softball: Chemical metaphor:
Each relation corresponds to a chemical which has a phase transition point (e.g., boiling point)
When we use two relations (chemicals) they have a new phase transition point
  that is determined in a non-trivial way by the two relations.
Phase transition = fraction that can always be satisfied in any 
  raw material for derivative.
Connection between SDG and the P=NP problem.
For R22: 4/9 is polynomial and 4/9+10^-6 is NP-complete.

TBall slides

Week 4: 
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Classic SDG CSP T Ball Competition 1

Subproject 4
Exploring other representation for relations 
  (Boolean and Pseudo Boolean expressions)
Translating to the Relation representation

Improving the raw material construction 
  using a combination generator
Improving the buying algorithm for maximizing profit

Use outsourced software to compute maximum bias

Source code management, subversion.

Agile Software Development Methods
  are better for small and large projects

Testing( test early, test often, test automatically, 
the roles of unit, integration, and stress testing,
the roles of black-box and glass-box testing, test coverage)

Coupling in software, lowering coupling, measuring coupling
Law of Demeter


Week 5:
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Classic SDG CSP T Ball Competition 2

Subproject 5
Road map for your player as it goes through the stages:

Classic SDG CSP T Ball
Classic SDG CSP Slow Pitch Softball
Classic SDG CSP Fast Pitch Softball
Classic SDG CSP Fast Pitch Softball Level k Reduced, k increasing
Classic SDG CSP Baseball 
Classic/Secret SDG CSP Baseball (with both classic and secret derivatives)

Compare implementation of Administrator against requirements document
Compare implementation of Your Player against requirements document

Project planning

People issues

Deal with implications between relations:
SDG CSP Slow Pitch Softball

Compute weighted fractions of constraints for
SDG CSP Fast Pitch Softball 

Week 6:
*********************************************************

Classic SDG CSP Slow Pitch Softball Competition 3
Code reviews

Subproject 6
Class dictionary review
Self-describing cds

Software architectures used in our robots/administrator
implicit invocation
aspect-oriented architecture
black board architecture
patterns used

Speeding up your robots (College has 120+ quadruple core machines)
  using ParTraversal

Solving min-max problems using steepest descent techniques

Week 7:
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Classic SDG CSP Fast Pitch Softball level 2 Independent (Competition 4)
(2 relations not in an implication relationship)
Code reviews

Subproject 7
SDG component market 
Contracts 

Product families
  How is DemeterF useful?

Derandomize the assignment generation: Shannon Decomposition

Requirements analysis for Secret SDG

Midterm review

Week 8:
*********************************************************
Midterm (Feb. 24)
Classic SDG CSP Fast Pitch Competition 5 
(any number of relations)
Code reviews
Continued requirements analysis for Secret SDG

Week 9:
*********************************************************
Classic/Secret SDG CSP Competition 6 
Code reviews

Subproject 8
Linear Programming to play SDG
Rock-Paper-Scissors Game and SDG

Week 10:
*********************************************************
Classic/Secret SDG CSP Competition 7 (base ball)
Code reviews

How else can we measure your robot (besides determining its IQ)?
correctness
reliability
robustness
maintainability
evolvability
testability 
reusability 
utility 
performance

Pragmatic programmer tips

Other Java data binding tools (XML based)

Week 11:
*********************************************************
Classic/Secret SDG CSP Competition 8 (base ball)
Code reviews

Abstraction barriers and modularity,
    isolation of clients from details
    separation of concerns
    independence of views from models


Week 12:
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Classic/Secret SDG CSP Competition 9 (base ball)
Code reviews
Final Project Document due

Week 13:
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Classic/Secret SDG CSP Competition 10 (base ball)
Code reviews