CS 121 Fall 2023

PSET 1

Learning Goals

• Introduction & Representing objects as strings

• Defining computation: Boolean circuits and straightline programs • Completeness: Computing every finite function

Policies

See the course syllabus for the full policies.

• Collaboration: You can collaborate with other students who are currently enrolled in this course (or, in the case of homework zero, planning to enroll in this course) in brainstorming and thinking through approaches to solutions, but you should write the solutions on your own, without sharing notes.

• Owning your solution: Always make sure that you “own” your solutions to problem sets. That is, you should always first grapple with the problems on your own, and even if you participate in brainstorming sessions, make sure that you completely understand the ideas and details underlying the solution. This is in your interest as it ensures you have a solid understanding of the course material and will help in the midterms and final. Especially given the generous bonus points policies for homework, getting 80% of the problem set questions right on your own will be much better to both your understanding and your course grade than getting 100% of the questions through gathering hints from others without true understanding.

• Serious violations: The following are examples of serious violations of the honor code: (1) Sharing questions or solutions with anyone outside this course, including posting on outside websites. (2) Collaborating with anyone except students currently taking this course. (3) Obtaining solutions using material from past years, other websites, or large language models.

• Submission Format: The submitted PDF should be typed and in the same format and pagination as ours. Please include the text of the problems and write Solution X: before your solution. Please mark in Gradescope the pages where the solution to each question appears. Points will be deducted if you submit in a different format.

• Late Day Policy: To give students some flexibility to manage your schedule, you are allowed a net total of six late days through the semester, but you may not take more than two late days on any single problem set.

• Attempting problems and “I don’t know” policy. Some problems might be harder than others, so don’t despair if they require more time to think or you can’t do them all. Just do your best. Also, you should only attempt the bonus questions if you have the time to do so. If you don’t have a proof for a certain statement, be upfront about it. You can always explain clearly what you are able to prove and the point at which you were stuck. Also, for a non bonus question, you can always simply write “I don’t know” and you will get 15 percent of the credit for this problem. If you are stuck on this problem set, you can use Ed to send a private message to all staff.

CS 121 Fall 2023 PSET 1

By writing my name here I affirm that I am aware of all policies and abided by them while working on this problem set:

Name: HUID: Collaborators:

[[TODO: Put your name here]]

[[TODO: Put your HUID here]]

[[TODO: Put your collaborators here, if any.]]