CoE 164 S2 AY 2020-2021

Course Information

Academic Period: 2nd Semester AY 2020-2021
Units: 3
Workload:

• 3 hours laboratory per week

Instructors:

• Carl C. Dizon [carl.dizon at eeemail]
• Nestor Michael C. Tiglao [nestor at eeemail]

Course Description: This is an advanced laboratory course on the application of the concepts, methodologies, skills, and tradeoffs in designing/building computing systems to solve challenging problems, in an efficient and structured way.
Synopsis: This course aims to 1) build and evaluate efficient computing platforms, 2) present algorithms, methods, and tools needed to solve challenging problems, and 3) practice sound engineering judgement in solving engineering problems.
Delivery Method: Digital materials and open-time laboratory sessions
Online Platforms: UVLe, Piazza, edX, Google Meet, Zoom, Gather, other quiz platforms, other code submission platforms.
Course Guidelines: [syllabus] [completion]
Grade Lookup: Google Apps Script

Course Outline

Week	Topics	Academic Requirements	Resource Links
0	Course overview and synopsis Course requirements		[slides] [syllabus]
1	Claude Shannon		[video] Claude Shannon - Father of the Information Age
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10	[MP01] Make your 2D matrix barcode more robust!	[MP01] Specifications [MP01][bin] Submission Bin	[MP01][wb] Finite Fields [MP01][wb] Reed-Solomon ECC Encoding [MP01][note] Notes - PW: notes_barcode [MP01][oj] Online Judge [MP01][ans] Solution
11	[ME01] Run-length message decoding	[ME01] Specifications [ME01][bin] Submission Bin	[ME01][oj] Online Judge [ME01][ans] Solution
12
13	[MP02] The fastest fast Fourier transform?	[MP02] Specifications [MP02][bin] Submission Bin	[MP02][wb] Fast Fourier Transform [MP02][note] Notes - PW: notes_sfft [MP02] Buddy Assignments [MP02][oj] Online Judge (FFT) [MP02][oj] Online Judge (IFFT) [MP02][ans] Solution
14	[ME02] Tumbasang linyar gamit ang paraang Gauss-Jordan	[ME02] Takda [MP02][bin] Lugar-Pasahan	[ME02][wb] Paraang Gauss-Jordan [ME02][oj] Hukom [ME02][ans] Sagot
15

Grading Rubric

55% Machine problem 01
45% Machine problem 02
30% Machine exercises (optional)

Completion Materials

[SE03] Specifications
[SE03][wb] Strassen Algorithm
[SE03][oj] Online Judge

Announcements

May 2022

Hello!

I am writing to inform you of updates regarding completion for the course. Unfortunately, due to lack of available time and other commitments of the old handlers of CoE 164 (i.e. just me) this semester, these updates are only being released now.

First of all, the grading rubric for this year's offering of CoE 164 has changed, which means that there is no such thing as MPs in this iteration. Instead, we were offering software exercises (SE) and a software problem (SP). So, instead of formulating a separate MP for completion purposes, we have instead decided that you accomplish the SE03 provided to students of the course this semester, which will act as your MP03 for this task.

We have released SE03 to the students last 04 May 2022 with a deadline on 20 May 2022. If you are able to submit the task before Friday, 20 May 2022, it would be ideal. However, due to a relatively procrastinated response, we will be accepting submissions until Wednesday, 08 June 2022.

Please submit your SE03 using the generic submission bin for all of the CoE 164 requirements last semester - here. Please read the instructions carefully before submitting your requirements there as it also details procedures on repeat and late submissions, as well as the deadlines for the requirements. Note that submission guidelines from last semester will still apply in relation to completing the course.

SE03 specifications are attached in this email. If for some reason you lost your copy of the specifications, you may access the UP Microlab Wiki as we are still uploading content there. You may also access the guidelines for completing your INC there in case you want to read up on that.

Finally, due to time constraints, we will be removing the proposed requirement to submit ME03 to complete the course as we will not be offering it anymore. As initially stated, the ME is supposed to be a requirement. The completion guidelines have been edited to reflect this change.

If you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to send a message to the instructors.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

PS. If you are currently taking the course again this semester (i.e. officially enrolled), you may ignore this email and go through the requirements for this semester instead.

October 2021

Saturday, 16 October 2021

Hello!

You are receiving this email because you were one of the "lucky ones" who received an INC for the first offering of CoE 164 last AY 2020-2021. This means that either 1) you failed the course, or 2) did not submit MP01. Note that your INC was annotated with "no MP01" if the grades have already been uploaded to CRS.

Here are the abridged procedures and guidelines on how to complete your INC during this time.

• This INC is a normal one, which you can complete within one (1) academic year as long as you are officially enrolled.
  • This means that you can complete this starting First Semester AY 2021-2022
• Converting the INC requires you to submit the following requirements.
  • MP03, which will cover another topic within CoE 161 and will substitute for your "missing" MP01.
  • ME03, which will cover another topic within CoE 163. Note that compared to the original offering, this ME is required.
• Deadlines for these additional academic requirements will be at the last day of classes of that semester when intent of completion is expressed. For reference, the last day of classes for this semester is on 06 January 2022.
  • The grading scheme for completion is similar to that of the grading scheme for the first offering of the course.
  • You will be sent messages through this email thread about updates related to the course.

We aim to release both ME03 and MP03 this month. Please stay tuned for more updates regarding them.

More details on the guidelines are already uploaded on the UP Microlab Wiki as it is too long to fit in this email. If you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to send a message to the instructors.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

July 2021

Friday, 02 July 2021

Hello!

You are receiving this email because you were one of the "lucky ones" who received an INC for this first offering of CoE 164 this AY 2020-2021. This means that either 1) you failed the course, or 2) did not submit MP01. Note that your INC was annotated with "no MP01" if the grades have already been uploaded to CRS.

Here are the abridged procedures and guidelines on how to complete your INC during this time.

• This INC is a normal one, which you can complete within one (1) academic year as long as you are officially enrolled.
  • This means that you can complete this starting Mid Year 2021
• Converting the INC requires you to submit the following requirements.
  • MP03, which will cover another topic within CoE 161 and will substitute for your "missing" MP01.
  • ME03, which will cover another topic within CoE 163. Note that compared to the original offering, this ME is required.
• Deadlines for these additional academic requirements will be at the last day of classes of that semester when intent of completion is expressed.
• Expressing interest in converting your INC requires you to submit at least MP03 within the prescribed time frame during each semester. Non-submission of this means that you have no interest in completing the course during that semester. Note that expression of interest is not the same as fully completing the course.
• The grading scheme for completion is similar to that of the grading scheme for the first offering of the course.
• You will be sent messages through this email thread about updates related to the course.

More details on the guidelines are already uploaded on the UP Microlab Wiki as it is too long to fit in this email. If you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to send a message to the instructors.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

June 2021

Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Hello!

I am writing to give you a not-so-gentle reminder that all of the academic requirements for CoE 164 have been evaluated! You can check our grades form for the assessments and your final grade, which will appear on CRS tomorrow Thursday, 01 July 2021. Appeals for regrading are still accepted and will be honored only until today Wednesday, 30 June 2021. Appeals regarding submission issues (i.e. wrong source code or submitting of late and amended programs) will not be accepted.

Several agencies within UP Diliman have released guidance on how grades of students with failing standing or incomplete requirements should be during this trying time. Here is one of the few memos outlining such. In accordance with the memo, those who have not submitted at least MP01 or have a failing standing will get an INC for this course annotated as "no MP01". Those who never submitted anything or even contacted the instructors for the course will be given a DRP annotated with "due to COVID-19 pandemic". Those with INC grades will be able to complete coursework starting Mid Year 2021 as long as they are enrolled this term.

Again, thank you very much for your patience and participation in this first installment of CoE 164. We hope that you have learned something during the course despite the odds, and may these lessons help you become better computer engineers in the future.

- Carl

Monday, 28 June 2021

Hello!

I am writing to inform you that all of the academic requirements for CoE 164 have been evaluated! You can check our grades form for the assessments and your final grade, which will appear on CRS on Thursday, 02 July 2021 Thursday, 01 July 2021. Note that all deductions (i.e. late or non-compliant submissions) have already been factored into the grades.

Appeals for regrading are now accepted and will be honored only until Tuesday, 30 June 2021 Wednesday, 01 July 2021 Wednesday, 30 June 2021. Appeals regarding submission issues (i.e. wrong source code or submitting of late and amended programs) will not be accepted. Those who have not submitted at least MP01 will get an INC or blank grade for this course.

For those interested, reference solutions to all of the MEs and MPs can be found at the UP Microlab Wiki for you to play with in your spare time. Modules containing topics discussed during the optional sessions we had at Gather (which you, hopefully, attended at least once) may also be released during the midyear. If you are still interested in viewing these future materials for reference and you are not yet registered to our edX instance, you can email a request to me with the email address you used to register to it.

Again, thank you very much for your patience and participation in this first installment of CoE 164. We hope that you have learned something during the course despite the odds, and may these lessons help you become better computer engineers in the future.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Friday, 25 June 2021

Hello!

As CoE 164 has just ended, this email will be longer than the previous ones as it will outline more end-of-semester matters.

Reference Solutions

As promised, I have uploaded all of the reference solutions to all of the MEs and MPs. You can access these at the UP Microlab Wiki for you to play with in your spare time.

Requirements Checking

I would also like to inform you of the process of checking your MEs and MPs. In general, it goes like this.

• Submission notes are duly noted if any
• A script is run to check whether your program is the same as that of one from the reference solution program
• The source code is read and checked for satisfaction of each criterion in the grading rubric for that requirement
• The source code or accompanying journal is read for documentation

There are some students who fail to write their program such that it satisfies the input or output requirements. For this reason, grading is delayed for these students as amendments to their code are needed to be able to run the testing script through these. It is for this reason of automation that your program should strictly follow the input and output specifications, and that there is a provision in the grading criteria of all requirements regarding it.

Late and Amended Submissions

As sent from previous emails, we have officially closed the generic submission bin for all of CoE 164 requirements. Also, it is written in our syllabus under the academic submission guidelines that late submissions after the final date of 16 June 2021 will not be accepted. Hence, any emails after this date regarding late and amended submissions are and will be ignored.

Grades

As written in a few messages back, you can check your grades through the grades form developed for this course. As of this time of writing, ME02 and MP02 are the only requirements remaining to be graded, with ME02 nearing done. The numerical grading scheme has also been released, which can be found both in this form and in the most recent copy of the syllabus. The form also shows the breakdown of the grades for each requirement and an accompanying remark for such. If there are blank criteria in one of the requirements, this means that your submission is partially evaluated and your final grade for it may still increase. Note that penalties (for late or non-compliance) were not yet factored in, and your grade may slightly decrease. For requirements that already have final grades (i.e. ME01 and MP01), appeals are now accepted and will be honored only until Tuesday, 30 June 2021. After that, grades will be uploaded to CRS on Thursday, 02 July 2021.

Optional Academic Materials

In the spirit of posterity and as an apology for rushing you with the content of the course, modules may be created during the midyear and made available on our edX instance. These lectures have the same content as that of the optional sessions we had at Gather (which you, hopefully, attended at least once). If you are still interested in viewing these future materials for reference, you can email a request to me with the email address you used to register to the instance.

End

With everything already out, we hope that you have enjoyed the first installment of this course.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

PS. I was genuinely disappointed that some people did not pass a journal for ME02. ;(

Thursday, 17 June 2021

Hello!

I am writing to inform you that we have officially closed the generic submission bin for all of CoE 164 requirements. This means that you will now be waiting for your grades for the course. Appeals regarding submission errors (such as wrong source code) will not be accepted anymore. Make sure that you have also submitted at least MP01 to prevent getting an INC or blank grade for this course.

All on-time submissions for ME01 and some of those for MP01 have been evaluated. If there are blank criteria in one of your submissions, this means that your submission is partially evaluated and your final grade for it may still increase. If you have received a full evaluation, there may be some notes regarding your submission and evaluation in our grades form. Note that this form updates real-time with the information of your submission and their partial or full evaluation. If you believe that you were wrongly graded in one of your submissions, you can send an email to me to appeal for reassessment. However, I would only accept appeals once all of the less than 250 submissions have been evaluated.

All submissions will be evaluated within (hopefully) seven working days. Answer source codes for all of the MEs and MPs will also be uploaded to the UP Microlab Wiki very soon for your reference.

Thank you very much for participating in this pilot course and we hope that you enjoyed all the topics taught in it.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

Hello!

I am writing to first give a few more clarifications regarding MP02. These are mostly for people who have partners while working for this requirement.

• If a partner submitted late and the other on time, the late submission will be graded with deductions for the criteria pertaining to individual grading. Joint criteria will not be affected by deductions.
• If both partners submitted late, the late submissions will be graded both with deductions for the individual and joint criteria.
• Non-acknowledgement of a partner means that you do not mention who your partner is at any part of your submission (i.e. submission notes and source code). This action without justification gives your partner 5% out of 10% in this criterion, while the same with justification gives your partner 0%. Any mention of the partner in any part of your submission (e.g. name or student number in submission notes or source code) will give your partner an automatic 10% in this criterion.

Some students were also anxious about their submissions not going into the generic submission bin. If you are unsure whether your submission has been recorded, please check our grades form as it updates real-time with the information of your submission. Since we are in this topic, I would like to remind you all that the last day of submission for all academic requirements for CoE 164 will be tomorrow Wednesday, 16 June 2021. Make sure that you have submitted at least MP01 to prevent getting an INC or blank grade for this course. After the date, the bin will be closed and all submissions will be evaluated within seven working days. Answer source codes for the MEs and MPs will also be uploaded to the UP Microlab Wiki after the date for your reference.

Last Thursday was the last session for CoE 164, but the Gather instance will still be there if you need to finish all of your academic requirements.

Thank you very much for participating in this pilot course and we hope that you enjoyed all the topics taught in it.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Thursday, 10 June 2021

Hello!

I am writing to primarily relay some clarifications regarding MP02. These are mostly for people who have partners while working for this requirement.

• You and your partner should submit your respective codes to the submission bin. For example, the one who made the FFT code should submit their FFT code. The other one who made the IFFT code, on the other hand, should submit their IFFT code separately. It's expected that everyone should have at least one submission for this MP in the bin.
• To acknowledge your partner as part of grading for MP02, writing the student number of your partner on the submission notes field (entitled "Additional notes regarding this submission") is sufficient. However, you can also write it as a comment on your submitted code. Assume that the one that will check your code does not know who your partner is.
• To get full points for the "Joint" criterion (i.e. "input-output compatibility among the two modules"), your codes should be able to check for each other for all of the test cases. For example, you have a test input (e.g. in_fft.txt) for the FFT module. The output of this module (e.g. in_out_ifft.txt) would be the test input for the IFFT module. The output of the IFFT module (e.g. in_out_fft.txt) should be the same as the input for the FFT module earlier (i.e. in_fft.txt).

Some students were also anxious about their submissions not going into the generic submission bin. This was partly due to the fact that the bin was configured last Tuesday to send out confirmation emails. To prevent sending such an email for all of the previous submissions, the grades form was instead updated to show information about your submission for each academic requirement,such as a) whether the bin contains your submission, b) most recent time of submission, and c) which files are those. It updates real-time - so if you submit anything today, that will reflect immediately on the form when you refresh and look-up the relevant record again.

Finally, for those who want to replicate the computer laboratory experience at the comfort of your home, I will be available on our general Gather instance at 2-4PM today, 10 June 2021. I may discuss Fast Fourier Transform and Gauss-Jordan Elimination during the session at the lecture hall, but also please take the time to consult with me regarding anything CoE 164. As this session may be our last session, you may want to attend if you are available and want to meet your colleagues for one last time in a "formal" setting.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Wednesday, 09 June 2021

Hello!

I am writing to inform you about end-of-semester matters. First are amendments and changes to CoE 164 admin matters. Note that all of this information can be found in our amended syllabus at the UP Microlab Wiki.

• Mapping from 100% grading scale to UP grade units is released.
• You are now required to submit MP01 before the final date for requirements (i.e. Wednesday, 16 June 2021) to not get a blank grade (or INC if that is not possible) for the course. Additional policies for students who fail to do so will be under way, assuming that we are allowed to leave blank grades.
• We have decided that students who get a final grade below 60% will get an INC since internal policy states that no failing (5.0) or conditional (4.0) grades should be given this semester. Students who do so have to complete the course by accomplishing an additional MP

Here is also a slightly urgent reminder about our upcoming deadlines for the pending academic requirements. Note that these deadlines are set for the purposes of you receiving full points for these requirements. More details regarding this policy can be found in our syllabus

• ME02 (Tumbasang linyar gamit ang paraang Gauss-Jordan) - Monday, 14 June 2021
• MP02 (The fastest fast Fourier transform?) - Friday, 11 June 2021

Also, you can still submit late academic requirements until the final date, such as ME01 and ME01 through the generic submission bin. However, please take note that you may not get full points for these requirements. Additionally, if you think that you need to take a break this semester, I would personally like to remind you that the deadline for dropping and filing for leave of absence is on 11 June 2021. Please send a message ASAP to avail of these remedies as it takes some time to complete the procedures.

Don't forget that our class still has a page at the UP Microlab Wiki, which you can access to find more information regarding the course and its relevant links in the interwebs.

Finally, for those who want to replicate the computer laboratory experience at the comfort of your home, I will be available on our general Gather instance at 2-4PM Thursday, 10 June 2021. I may discuss Fast Fourier Transform and Gauss-Jordan Elimination during the session at the lecture hall, but also please take the time to consult with me regarding the remaining MPs and MEs.

Also, as we are nearing the end of classes, this session may be our last session. If you are available and want to meet your colleagues for one last time in a "formal" setting, that day would be the perfect time.

Thank you and hope that you have enjoyed the first installment of this course.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Monday, 07 June 2021

Hello!

I am writing to give you a slightly urgent reminder about our upcoming deadlines for the pending academic requirements. Note that these deadlines are set for the purposes of you receiving full points for these requirements. More details regarding this policy can be found in our syllabus.

• ME02 (Tumbasang linyar gamit ang paraang Gauss-Jordan) - Monday, 14 June 2021
• MP02 (The fastest fast Fourier transform?) - Friday, 11 June 2021

Also, you can still submit late academic requirements, such as ME01 and ME01 through the generic submission bin. However, please take note that you may not get full points for these requirements

Don't forget that our class still has a page at the UP Microlab Wiki, which you can access to find more information regarding the course and its relevant links in the interwebs.

Finally, for those who want to replicate the computer laboratory experience at the comfort of your home, I will be available on our general Gather instance at 2-4PM today Monday, 07 June 2021. I may discuss Fast Fourier Transform and Gauss-Jordan Elimination during the session at the lecture hall, but also please take the time to consult with me regarding the remaining MPs and MEs.

Thank you and hope to see you soon.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Wednesday, 02 June 2021

Magandang Araw!

Dahil sa itinakdang brownouts sa buong kapuluan ng Luzon, na ipinahayag ng NGCP na magtatagal hanggang Lunes, 07 Hunyo 2021, walang magaganap na talakayan sa linggong ito. Sa lugar namin sa Rizal, nakatakda ang brownout na ito tuwing ika-1 hanggang ika-3 ng hapon, na nataon sa oras ng ating mga talakayang pang-laboratoryo. Kung may mga katanungan kayo ukol sa mga natitirang mga gawain sa asignaturang ito, mangyari lamang na magpadala ng mensahe sa akin at sasagutin ko sa abot ng aking makakaya.

Nais ko ring ibalita na mayroon nang hukom ang ME02! Nagkaroon rin ng mga susog ang pagtatakda nito upang mas mapadali at mapabilis ang pagtuos ng mga bilang. Maari lamang tingnan ang mga magkaugnay dokumento sa UP Microlab Wiki. Tandaan na ang huling araw ng pasahan para sa naturang gawain (para makakuha ng buong marka) ay sa 14 Hunyo 2021. Tandaan rin na dahil ito ay isang pagsasanay sa pag-kompyuter, hindi ito kailangan gawin. Ngunit, ang markang matatatanggap mula sa gawaing ito ay idadagdag sa kabuuang marka ninyo para sa asignaturang ito.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Tuesday, 01 June 2021

Hello!

I am writing to give you a not-so-gentle reminder about our upcoming deadlines for the pending academic requirements. Note that these deadlines are set for the purposes of you receiving full points for these requirements. More details regarding this policy can be found in our syllabus.

• ME01 (Run-length message decoding) - Friday, 04 June 2021
• MP02 (The fastest fast Fourier transform?) - Friday, 11 June 2021

Also, don't forget that our class still has a page at the UP Microlab Wiki, which you can access to find more information regarding the course and its relevant links in the interwebs.

Finally, for those who want to replicate the computer laboratory experience at the comfort of your home, I will be available on our general Gather instance at 1-3PM today Tuesday, 01 June 2021. I may discuss Fast Fourier Transform and Gauss-Jordan Elimination during the session at the lecture hall, but also please take the time to consult with me regarding the remaining MPs and MEs.

Thank you and hope to see you soon.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

May 2021

Monday, 31 May 2021

Magandang Araw!

Kung nagtataka kayo kung bakit biglang nagpadala ng mensahe ang inyong guro sa Filipino, ito ay dahil sa inilabas na ang ME02! Basahin lamang ang ME02 para sa karagdagang kaalaman, na nakalakip rin sa mensaheng ito. Kung nawala ang inyong kopya ng ME02, maari lamang itong kunin mula sa UP Microlab Wiki. Wala pa itong programang pang-hukom, ngunit nais kong ipadala iyon sa inyo ngayong linggo. Ang huling araw ng pasahan para sa naturang gawain (para makakuha ng buong marka) ay sa 14 Hunyo 2021. Tandaan rin na dahil ito ay isang pagsasanay sa pag-kompyuter, hindi ito kailangan gawin. Ngunit, ang markang matatatanggap mula sa gawaing ito ay idadagdag sa kabuuang marka ninyo para sa asignaturang ito.

Nagkaroon rin ng kaunting pagsusog sa MP02 dahil sa katanungan ng iilan sa mga mag-aaral, na maaaring makuha mula rin sa UP Microlab Wiki. Mas pinaliwanag lang rito kung paano saklawin ang mga bilang hanggang sa pinakamalapit na buong bilang at kung ano ang hindi maaaring gawin lalo na kung Python ang gamit ninyong wikang pang-programa.

Para sa kaalaman rin ng lahat, ang petsa para sa kusang loob na pagbuwag mula sa klase at pagliban ngayong semestre ay sa 11 Hunyo 2021. Ito rin ang araw ng katapusan ng mga klase sa pamantasan. Kung nais ninyong makinabang sa mga naturang pamamaraan, mangyari lamang na magpadala ng mensahe sa akin habang maaga pa upang hindi mabigla sa katapusan ng klase.

Naglabas na rin ako ng programa kung saan maaari ninyong tingnan ang mga marka para sa asignaturang ito. Mangyari lamang na tingnan ang UP Microlab Wiki, o magtungo sa silid-talakayan sa Gather upang magamit ito. Sa ngayon, wala pa itong mga marka dahil kakatapos lang ng araw ng pasahan para sa MP01.

Sa huli, para sa mga nais gayahin ang karanasang pang-laboratoryo o magtanong ukol sa mga naiwang gawain sa ginhawa ng inyong mga bahay, maari lamang magtungo sa ating silid sa Gather ngayong araw, Lunes, 31 Mayo 2021, 2-4 nh. Maaari rin akong magturo ng kaunti ukol sa MP02 at ME02 sa slid-talakayan.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Friday, 28 May 2021

Hello!

I have received reports of students noticing that the assigned buddies for their MP02 and their counterpart buddies do not match. Additionally, due to a programming error, I believe that some students got a barrage of emails from their purported buddies. I apologize for the mistake and have debugged the form already. Here is the link to the corrected one.

If you have seen any problems with the form, please inform me as soon as possible.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

PS. Your pairings are correct. It's just that the program parses the pairs incorrectly. :)

Friday, 28 May 2021

Hello!

We are releasing MP02 today! Deadline (to get full points) is on Friday, 11 June 2021.

As we have shorter time left, we have decided that this MP shall be done by random pairs, with the pairs made among people of the same section. Your pair assignments can be accessed through this form for your reference. Since this is buddy work, we have also released two online judges for this MP, linked here and here, so that you can still work with minimal communication. However, if you need to meet-up in some way, feel free to use the discussion commons in the Gather instance. For more information why there are two OJs, read the MP specs to find out!

Please submit your MP02 using the generic submission bin for all of the CoE 164 requirements for this semester - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbLCDj52EznOgOfy4x5Iwxtox5EAiSDMcbNGEhPjk4Gyafzw/viewform. Please read the instructions carefully before submitting your requirements there, as it also details procedures on repeat and late submissions, as well as the deadlines for the requirements. In relation to this, I have observed that there are some students who uploaded compressed files in their MP/ME submissions. The instructions say to not upload such. Hence, we will have to decrease the grades for the offending submissions by 5% as a penalty for non-compliance. This rule will also be applied to future academic requirements.

MP02 specifications are attached in this email. If for some reason, you lost your copy of the MP, please check the UP Microlab Wiki as we upload the relevant documents for the course there, too.

Finally, I have yet to upload ME02, which will be the final academic "requirement" for this class. Note that MEs under our new arrangement are optional requirements, meaning that you will get bonus points on top of your final grade if you decide to do this one.

Regardless of the mounting pressure at the end of the semester, I hope that you have enjoyed the course and have learned something from it.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Thursday, 27 May 2021

Hello!

I am writing to give you a not-so-gentle reminder about our upcoming deadlines for the pending academic requirements. Note that these deadlines are set for the purposes of you receiving full points for these requirements. More details regarding this policy can be found in our syllabus.

• MP01 (Make your 2D matrix barcode more robust) - Friday, 28 May 2021
• ME01 (Run-length message decoding) - Friday, 04 June 2021

Additionally, MP02 will be released today or on Friday. Due to a shorter time frame, it is envisioned that this MP will be done by random pairs, with the pairs made among people of the same section as high as possible. The person that will be left without a partner will have a special grading system applied to their MP submission. Their partner will be me. :)

Also, don't forget that our class still has a page at the UP Microlab Wiki, which you can access to find more information regarding the course and its relevant links in the interwebs.

Finally, for those who want to replicate the computer laboratory experience at the comfort of your home, I will be available on our general Gather instance at 2-4PM today Thursday, 27 May 2020. Please take the time to consult with me regarding the MPs and MEs in the lecture hall.

Thank you and hope to see you soon.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Tuesday, 25 May 2021

Hello!

I am writing to give you a not-so-gentle reminder about our upcoming deadlines for the pending academic requirements. Note that these deadlines are set for the purposes of you receiving full points for these requirements. More details regarding this policy can be found in our syllabus.

• MP01 (Make your 2D matrix barcode more robust) - Friday, 28 May 2021
• ME01 (Run-length message decoding) - Friday, 04 June 2021

Additionally, MP02 and ME02 will be released hopefully this week. We will make sure that these will be easier due to time constraints.

Also, don't forget that our class still has a page at the UP Microlab Wiki, which you can access to find more information regarding the course and its relevant links in the interwebs.

Finally, for those who want to replicate the computer laboratory experience at the comfort of your home, I will be available on our general Gather instance at 2-4PM today Tuesday, 25 May 2020. Please take the time to consult with me regarding the MPs and MEs in the lecture hall.

Thank you and hope to see you soon.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Tuesday, 18 May 2021

Hello!

I think I may have missed this important announcement, but we have decided beforehand that we will be offering CoE 164 as a unified asynchronous class among all of the sections. This means that all of the academic requirements that will be coursed through this course will be offered across all the sections.

Also, there were some students who pointed out some ambiguities regarding ME01. I have corrected them and updated the ME01 specifications to address these issues, but I will be writing these here for reference.

• Rounding off of the compression ratio should follow the usual rules taught in elementary school (i.e. round half up). This means that 2.5 should be rounded up to 3, while 2.4 should be rounded down to 2.
• The run length encoding specified in the ME uses numbers to note the number of occurrences of a character. Whitespaces (except newlines) can be a part of a message, but Arabic numbers 0-9 cannot. The numbers are solely used as occurrence labels and are never a part of the message. For example, there will be no message whose compressed and uncompressed strings are "325a" and "222aaaaa", respectively.

Also, as promised, here are the online judges (OJs) that you can use to verify the correctness of your ongoing MEs and MPs. Don't forget to run the whole OJ first by looking at the toolbar in Google Colaboratory and going to Runtime > Run all.

MP01: https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1z5Kx4waivgrRdEC5c_rzxoFpCZ4GSUMK
ME01: https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1QbMIl-x1Cmrqa0uUycd7Gcl7_ysuCSKj

Finally, for those who want to replicate the computer laboratory experience at the comfort of your home, I will be available on our general Gather instance from 1-3PM today Tuesday, 18 May 2020. Please take the time to consult with me regarding the MPs and MEs in the lecture hall. If needed, I may also hold a lecture regarding finite fields and the MP01 specs as it seems difficult for most of the students.

Thank you and hope to see you soon.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Friday, 14 May 2021

Hello!

I would like to thank everyone who attended the optional laboratory discussion regarding finite fields last Tuesday, 11 May 2021. For those who were not able to attend, you can access the Gather instance in your spare time. I have set-up the whiteboard from that lecture, as well as MP specs and notes, and the submission bin in the lecture hall - just check them out! You can also use the designated private spaces in the instance to meet with friends and do your requirements together.

Some people have also pointed out inconsistencies in the notes_barcode.txt file. I have uploaded the updated notes in the Gather instance, but have also attached the updated notes in this email just to be sure. If you attempt to access the notes there, the password is notes_barcode.

We are also releasing ME01 today! Note that MEs under our new arrangement are optional requirements. You can opt not to do this task, but if you proceed to submit such, they will be counted as bonus points on top of your CoE 164 grades. Additionally, please submit your ME01 using the generic submission bin for all of the CoE 164 requirements for this semester - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbLCDj52EznOgOfy4x5Iwxtox5EAiSDMcbNGEhPjk4Gyafzw/viewform. Please read the instructions carefully before submitting your requirements there, as it also details procedures on repeat and late submissions, as well as the deadlines for the requirements.

Deadline for ME01 (to get full points) is on Friday, 04 June 2021. ME01 specifications are attached in this email. If for some reason, you lost your copy of the MP, please check the UP Microlab Wiki as we upload the relevant documents for the course there, too.

Finally, I have yet to set-up the online judge for MP01 and ME01 as I am still selecting the most appropriate platform to host the Jupyter notebooks. Hopefully, I will be able to send links to those over the weekend so that you can play with them.

Thank you and hope to see you soon.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Tuesday, 11 May 2021

Hello!

It's been a long time since we've seen each other for the course. As MP01 has been released, I would like you to take the opportunity to go through it in your spare time and don't be scared to get help from either the instructors or your fellow classmates.

For those who want to replicate the computer laboratory experience at the comfort of your home, I will be available on our general Gather instance from 1-3PM today Tuesday, 11 May 2020. You can learn more about the MP (i.e. I will probably discuss Galois fields), do your MP, or meet your fellow classmates there. Here is the link for reference: https://gather.town/i/gM2feq0G.

Thank you and hope to see you soon.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Friday, 07 May 2021

Hello!

I hope that you had a peaceful reading break. Because of that, we can now go back to business and finally start with CoE 164.

As promised after two months, we are now confident enough to release MP01 (yes, a machine problem). Although we still do not have an UVLe class, we instead chose to use other means to be able to continue. This form will be our generic submission bin for all of the CoE 164 requirements for this semester - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbLCDj52EznOgOfy4x5Iwxtox5EAiSDMcbNGEhPjk4Gyafzw/viewform. Please read the instructions carefully before submitting your requirements there, as it also details procedures on repeat and late submissions, as well as the deadlines for the requirements.

Deadline for MP01 (to get full points) is on Friday, 28 May 2021. MP01 specifications are attached in this email.

Additionally, for those who want to replicate the computer laboratory experience at the comfort of your home, we have set-up a Gather instance where we can possibly meet during the prescribed laboratory hours. However, you can use the instance anytime to meet-up with your fellow classmates if needed. This is the link to the instance, which will be removed after the end of the course - https://gather.town/i/gM2feq0G.

Because of time constraints, we have decided to further reduce the number of MEs and MPs to 2 MEs and 2 MPs, for a total of four requirements. Additionally, we will treat MEs as optional academic requirements. This means that MPs will be the sole basis of grading for the course, with the MEs contributing to your grade as bonus points. MEs will still have deadlines for you to get full points. The new grading rubric is then as follows:

55% Machine Problem 01 (MP01)
45% Machine Problem 02 (MP02)
30% Machine Exercises (ME) (optional)

Thank you and hope to see you soon.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

April 2021

Monday, 12 April 2021

Hello!

I hope that you had a long weekend exacerbated by our ever-changing *CQ statuses and several holidays, such as the Holy Week and Araw ng Kagitingan. Because of time constraints, we intend to reduce the number of MEs and MPs that will be offered.

Unfortunately, we were not able to release ME1 as scheduled. Apparently, we do not even have an UVLe class for the longest time! We have decided to not release any ME(s) until we have one since that's the place where you'll be uploading your requirements. This decision also serves as an apology for the grave lapse on our part. Hopefully, we'll be able to have the module up this week so that you can start working on our first ME.

Thank you for your patience and hope to see you soon.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

March 2021

Tuesday, 23 March 2021

Hello!

As relayed last week, there was no machine exercise released. Regardless, we will be releasing the first ME this week, at the earliest on Wednesday. We'll send an email to all of you once it is visible.

We will also be setting-up a unified UVLe module for all CoE 164 classes this week so that you can submit the upcoming machine exercises and problems.

For this class, I intend our scheduled time to be a remote open laboratory where you can ask me live and do the ME. However, as scheduled, it will be Holy Week next week. Hence, open lab will start on April 5, 2021. Questions should be directed to email in the meantime.

Thank you for the patience and hope to see you soon.

- Carl Dizon (talk)

Monday, 15 March 2021

Hello!

As we discussed last week in our onboarding meeting, we will be using UVLe primarily as our avenue for course delivery. However, UVLe is unfortunately down due to extraordinary circumstances. Regardless, you can access the materials here at the UP Microlab classes wiki. Just find the wiki page dedicated to our class entitled "CoE 164 S2 AY 2020-2021":

https://classes.up-microlab.org/

The wiki serves as our redundancy resource website when UVLe is down. Additionally, we are working on an edX instance for our class similar to the one that will be introduced for CoE 163.

We will be sending an e-mail to all of you if there will be a machine exercise that will be released within the week. The current timetable dictates that there may be no exercise this week, but it is subject to change.

Thank you for your patience and hope to see you soon!

- Carl Dizon (talk)