CMSC 422
Introduction to Machine Learning
Spring, 2025
MW 2:00-3:15, CSIC 1115
Introduction
to Machine Learning |
This
course will introduce the basic principles of Machine Learning. These include simple but useful machine
learning algorithms and the mathematics underlying these methods. Recently, Large Language Models have had a
large and growing impact on our lives.
In this class, we will discuss some of the fundamental ideas that
underlie these models, providing a basic understanding of how they
operate. We will also look at some of
the implications to society of large scale machine
learning. |
Assignments Students will
be assigned seven problem sets and also receive a number
of in-class assessments. Problem
Sets: The schedule
for problem sets is given below. These
will involve implementing algorithms and pencil and paper exercises. Students may make use of LLMs for
assistance and may work with other students.
Students are expected to work through each assignment, and to
understand all pieces of code and all written solutions that they turn
in. Students will have two weeks to
complete coding assignments (which may also contain written problems), and
one week for assignments that are purely written. All problem sets are due at start of
class (2pm) on the due date. Two week
assignments will count for twice as much as one week assignments in
grading. Problem sets will count
overall for 16½ % of the final grade. Quizzes: There will be seven short (ten minute)
quizzes given in class. These quizzes
will be given on the date that each problem set is due, and
will address the material in that problem set. There will be no partial credit given on
quizzes. These will count for 16 1/2%
of the final grade. Midterm
and Final: An
in-class midterm will be given (see schedule below) and a final exam will be
given at the date, time and location set by the university schedule (see
schedule below). The midterm will
could for 27% of the final grade and the final exam will count for 40%. Some portions
of assignments and exams may be listed as extra credit. This means that all grades will be assigned
as usual, ignoring extra credit. After
grades are determined, extra credit work may be used to raise students’
grades. |
Texts and Discussion Readings will be given
in the schedule below. We will use the
following texts, along with some additional pointers. CIML - A Course in Machine Learning, by Hal Daume. It is available freely here.
Or here. ISL – An Introduction to Statistical Learning, by
James, et al. It is freely available here. Neural Networks and Machine Learning, by Michael Nielsen. It is freely available here. We will be using Piazza for discussion: https://piazza.com/umd/spring2025/cmsc4220201 |
Disability Support Any student eligible for
and requesting reasonable academic accommodations due to a disability is
requested to provide, to the instructor in office hours, a letter of
accommodation from the Office of Disability Support Services (DSS) within
the first TWO weeks of the semester. |
Academic Integrity In this course you are
responsible for both the University’s Code of Academic
Integrity and the University of Maryland
Guidelines for Acceptable Use of Computing Resources. Any evidence
of unacceptable use of computer accounts or unauthorized cooperation on
tests, quizzes and assignments will be submitted to the Student Honor
Council, which could result in an XF for the course, suspension, or expulsion
from the University. Any work that you hand in must be your own work. Any sources that you draw from, including other students or LLMs, should be appropriately acknowledged. Plagiarism is a serious offense, and will not be tolerated. This should not be an issue with assignments; you just need to acknowledge any sources that you use. |
Anti-Harassment The open exchange of
ideas, the freedom of thought and expression, and respectful scientific
debate are central to the aims and goals of this course. These require a
community and an environment that recognizes the inherent worth of every
person and group, that fosters dignity, understanding, and mutual respect,
and that embraces diversity. Harassment and hostile behavior are unwelcome in
any part of this course. This includes: speech or behavior that intimidates,
creates discomfort, or interferes with a person’s participation or
opportunity for participation in the course. We aim for this course to be an
environment where harassment in any form does not happen, including but not
limited to: harassment based on race, gender, religion, age, color, national origin,
ancestry, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Harassment
includes degrading verbal comments, deliberate intimidation, stalking,
harassing photography or recording, inappropriate physical contact, and
unwelcome sexual attention. Please contact an instructor or CS staff member
if you have questions or if you feel you are the victim of harassment (or
otherwise witness harassment of others). |
Course evaluations We welcome your
suggestions for improving this class, please don’t hesitate to share it with
the instructor or the TAs during the semester! You will also be asked to give
feedback using the CourseEvalUM system
at the end of the semester. Your feedback will help us make the course
better. |
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Personnel |
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Instructor |
Teaching Assistants |
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Name |
David Jacobs |
Jiaye Wu |
Bhuvanesh Murali |
Haowen Yu |
Naitri Rajyaguru |
Office |
IRB 4240 |
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Email |
djacobs@cs |
Please post
on Piazza |
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Office Hours |
Friday 9-11,
IRB 4240 |
Monday
3:15-5:15 AVW 4140 |
Tuesday, 2-4 |
Wednesday,
10-12 |
Thursday,
9:30-11:30 |
Homework |
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Date Assigned |
Date Due |
Topic |
PS1 |
Feb. 3 |
Feb. 10 |
Decision
Trees |
PS2 |
Feb. 12 |
Feb. 24 |
K-means -
Implementation |
PS3 |
Feb. 24 |
March 3 |
Perceptrons, Naïve Bayes |
PS4 |
March 3 |
March 24 |
Logistic
Regression - Implementation |
PS5 |
March 31 |
April 14 |
Neural
Networks, Backpropagation, Gradient Descent - Implementation |
PS6 |
April 14 |
April 28 |
Reinforcement
Learning - Implementation |
PS7 |
April 28 |
May 5 |
SVM, Learning
Theory |
Class
Schedule
This
schedule is tentative.
|
Topic |
Assigned
Reading |
Additional
resources |
1. 1/27 |
Introduction |
|
|
2. 1/29 |
Decision Trees,
Limits of Learning |
CIML, Chapter
1, 2 |
|
3. 2/3 |
Decision
Trees cont’d, ensemble learning. |
|
|
4. 2/5 |
Geometry
Review |
Dot
product notes
TBP (To be Posted)
|
|
5. 2/10 |
Nearest
Neighbor (NN), K-NN, K-Means -Quiz |
CIML, Chapter
3 |
|
6. 2/12 |
Snow Day |
|
|
7. 2/17 |
Perceptrons, multi-variable calculus, gradient
descent. |
CIML, 4-4.4 |
|
8. 2/19 |
Perceptrons, cont’d. |
CIML, Chapter 5
|
|
9. 2/24 |
Practicalities
of Machine Learning - Quiz |
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10. 2/26 |
Probability
& Probabilistic Models |
CIML 9-9.5 |
|
11. 3/3 |
Linear and
Logistic Regression - Quiz |
ISL 3.1, 4.3
Part II of Notes
|
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12. 3/5 |
Logistic
Regression, cont’d. |
|
|
13. 3/10 |
Neural
Networks |
CIML 10.1, Neural Networks and Deep Learning Chapter 1 |
|
14. 3/12 |
Backpropagation
|
CIML
10.2, Neural Networks and Deep Learning Chapter 2. |
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Spring Break |
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15. 3/24 |
Next Word
Prediction - Quiz |
Prediction and Entropy of
Printed English, by Shannon, Bell System Technical Journal. |
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16. 3/26 |
Transformers |
Attention is all you need, Vaswani et al., Neurips
2017. |
Formal Algorithms for Transformers
by Phuong and Hutter, Arxiv. I highly recommend this for a clear and
precise description of Transformers, but it is not for the faint of heart. |
17. 3/31 |
Midterm |
|
. |
18. 4/2 |
Going over
Midterm |
|
. |
19. 4/7 |
Reinforcement
Learning |
Reinforcement Learning,
an Introduction, Sutton and Barto Understanding
Chapters 3 and 6 is important, but reading 4 and 5 will probably help with 6. Chapter 1 is fun and quick to read. |
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20. 4/9 |
Large
Language Models |
|
Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback LLaMA: Open and Efficient Foundation
Language Models Language
Models are Few-Shot Learners
|
21. 4/14 |
Data - Quiz |
TBP |
|
22. 4/16 |
Learning
Theory |
CIML 12 |
|
23. 4/21 |
Kernel
Methods |
CIML 11-11.3 |
|
24. 4/23 |
Support
Vector Machines |
CIML 11.4-11.6
|
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25. 4/28 |
Kernel SVMs - Quiz |
|
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26. 4/30 |
Bias and
Fairness |
TBP |
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27. 5/5 |
TBD, Maybe
Image/Video Generation, PCA, EM. - Quiz |
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28. 5/7 |
TBD |
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29. 5/12 |
Conclusions |
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5/19 4-6pm |
Final Exam |
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