About the Course/Instructor

CSC 262 -Computer Vision - Weinman

Answers from the questionnaire will be posted here.

1  About the Course

Q
I m sure this will be covered later, but I am curious about the format of exams in this class.
A
Briefly, the exams are qualitative, checking to make sure you understand the implications and/or limitations of various approaches and trade-offs. For example, perhaps I'd ask you to compare and contrast the three different models for face recognition discussed on the first class day and Piazza. (E.g., you'd want to highlight that one requires no model of any specific face, and another last can't say it does not recognize a given face but must produce an identity from a closed set of possibilities.)
You will (or should) spend a lot of time making empirical observations about methods, but your knowledge should be supplemented by some theoretical understanding of expected behavior as well.
Q
Can I bring coffee to class?
A
Yes!
Q
The only thing that concerns me is the reading. This also happens in CSC-211 as well. Sometimes when the reading is hard to understand even after repeatedly reading them, I lose my patience quickly and can't remember what I just read. To solve this, from the course syllabus, your recommended way of reading is that firstly, gather all the concepts and main points the author had, then look closely at what those ideas mean and try to understand the math procedure behind it, and lastly, make notes on what we don't understand and ask them during the class. Is my understanding correct?
A
Basically. One qualification I'd add is that I don't want you to spend too much time trying to fully understand all of the mathematics. We'll spend the bulk of our time together in class unpacking the critical questions. Your biggest task is to understand the purpose and motivation of the problem as well as the basic jist of the approach.
Q
Are the random completion-graded labs given the same weight as graded labs?
A
No. See 6.3 Laboratory exercises and write-ups (Grading)
Q
How much multivariable should we review? (i.e. what topics would be useful to relook at from Calc 2?)
A
You'll absolutely want to understand the gradient. We'll talk about the Jacobian later, too.
Q
About figures in lab write-ups, what does axis lables and curve legends mean? I assume this is something we will learn and make use of in the future?
A
If the so-called x-axis represents a year, then it should say "Year". This is an axis label. If one element on that graph is tuition and another element is GDP, then your graph legend ought to include two entries that distinguishes these curves. Matlab will make it easy to do this; you are responsible for doing it.
Q
How are the non-completion-based labs graded? Will there be points counting towards coding style, efficiency, documentation and other similar aspects?
A
Yes, each lab has a list of deliverables. The "submitting" page indicates what documentation is needed (for the few times you'll write a procedure), otherwise good variable names and comments are generally required. Correct spelling and grammar are also expected, whilst you work toward completing the deliverables (often implementations/methods as well as observations).

2  About Me

Q
Do you have pets?
A
No. (All of my childhood pets met with freakish accidental demise.)
Q
Have you read any good books recently?
Q
What is your recent favorite book!
A
Ooh, fun! I love reading and being abroad for the summer meant I had to give up my trips to the wonderful Drake Community Library for paper books (I don't read Danish!) and instead use the public library's eBook system. This meant I could catch up on my ever growing list of books the library didn't have in print. One summer highlight was Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. (I didn't know it was made into a film until I read the epilogue.)
Q
How are you Jerod ?
A
After a wonderful summer away, I'm good. Ready to face the day! Thanks for asking.
Q
What's your favorite hobby?
A
Oh, I'm so bad at favorites, so I'll do a Top N list. I enjoy reading (mostly novels), cooking (particularly barbecue), camping with my family (plus corollary outdoors-ey activities), and working in my garden (vegetables and flowers).
Q
What was your favorite thing to do while in Denmark and will you try to do it at Grinnell?
A
Thanks for the fun question! So much of what I enjoyed was tied to place. I loved cycling through the streets and just being in such a beautiful place and atmosphere. I doubt I can reproduce that in Grinnell. We also loved going to Tivoli (an amusement park) each week. Bouncy castles at NSO are about as close as we're going to get (I suppose there's Adventureland nearby, but it won't be an easy metro ride away!). I did eat a lot of smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches) for lunch, so that's could be something I'd replicate here, though I'll miss some of the Scandinavian victuals that will be harder to procure here.
Q