Homework 10 HT2022 - panel debate

Homework 4 Panel discussions

Due Dec 12 17.00.

A panel discussion is a public debate in front of an audience. The panel consists of experts, chosen to reflect different opinions. The moderator keeps the discussion going by asking the panelists questions, moderating the discussion, and ensuring that each panel member has an equal opportunity to speak.

This is an example of a panel discussion:

You are invited to participate in two panel discussions in seminar 10. You should prepare for the following three roles:

• moderator
• panelist
• audience

You will not know beforehand which of two discussions you will participate in, or which role you will play, so you must prepare for both. Think of this as role playing - it is allowed and even encouraged to argue passionately for standpoints that are not your own, which may increase the entertainment value of the exercise. Active participation is required by all moderators and panelists.

You should prepare for the panel debate through the following assignment which can be submitted after the seminar (no peer review):

1. The topic of the first panel debate is ''Is Computer Science Science?"

1. Read the paper Is Computer Science Science?Links to an external site. [Peter Denning. 2005, Communications of the ACM Vol.48(4), pp. 27-31]. Other optional reading is listed below.
2. Formulate for yourself a brief popular introduction so that you are prepared if you will serve as moderator of the discussion. Also prepare two questions you could ask the panel to provoke heated discussion. These do not have to be submitted in writing.
3. Write down three arguments against calling computer science a science, and for each of them a strong counterargument. These should be submitted in writing after the seminar.

2. The second panel discussion will deal with the subject ''Will AI code completion revolutionize software development"?

1. Start by familiarizing yourself with issues related to code completion, for example by reading the following
   general articles and blog posts:

Coding Made AI—Now, How Will AI Unmake Coding? Links to an external site.
Links to an external site.

Can Github Copilot Replace Developers? Links to an external site.

Ownership of AI-Generated Code Hotly Disputed:  Links to an external site.

Links to an external site.

Quantifying GitHub Copilot’s impact on developer productivity and happiness Links to an external site.

1. Formulate for yourself a brief popular introduction so that you are prepared in case you will serve as moderator of the discussion. Also prepare two questions you could ask the panel to provoke heated discussion. These do not have to be submitted in writing.

2. Fomulate one argument and a counterargument for/against each of the following:

Will AI based code completion lead to massive unemployment among developers?

Should AI based code completion be allowed in programming assignments at KTH?

Can a user of tools such as CoPilot accidentally violate intellectual property rights,
and will this hinder the adoption of generative models?

These should be formulated in writing and submitted after the seminar.

Optional reading (you can of course also use any other material you find on these subjects) :

1. What is computer science? Selected opinions by some of the founders of the field.

Vinton G. Cerf, Where Is the Science in Computer Science? (Links to an external site.) Communications of the ACM, October 2012, Vol. 55 No. 10, Page 5.

Vinton Cerf (1943-) is an American Internet pioneer and one of the fathers of the Internet, together with TCP/IP co-developer Bob Kahn. They received the Turing Award (Links to an external site.) in 2004.

Newell, Allen; Perlis, Alan J.; & Simon, Herbert A. (1967), What is Computer Science? (Links to an external site.), Science 157(3795), 1373–1374.

Allen Newell and Herb Simon were pioneers in AI research during the 1950s, and received the Turing Award together in 1975. Herb Simon is also known for his contributions to other fields, includníng cognitive psychology and economics (for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1978). Alan Perlis did important work on early programming languages and compilers, and was awarded the first Turing Award in 1966.

Knuth, Donald (1974), “Computer Science and Its Relation to Mathematics (Links to an external site.)”, American Mathematical Monthly 81(4) (April): 323–343.

Donald Knuth is known, e.g.,  for his contributions to algorithm analysis and computational complexity, for his books The Art of Computer Programming, and for the creation of TeX. He received the Turing Award in 1974.

Brooks, Frederick P., Jr. (1996), “The Computer Scientist as Toolsmith II”,  (Links to an external site.)Communications of the ACM 39(3) (March): 61–68,

Fred Brooks is an American computer scientist who has done fundamental work in computer architecture, operating systems, software engineering, and human-computer interaction. He received the Turing Award in 1999.

And for those interested in reading further, there is an online draft of an excellent book by William Rapaport, a computer scientist and philosopher at SUNY Buffalo, called Philosophy of Computer Science  (Links to an external site.)(938 pages, but very readable). Rapaport is also known for pointing out that Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo  (Links to an external site.)is a grammatically correct sentence in English.

2. Code completion

Additional references will be added.

Handing in your solution

Please save your solution as a pdf file and hand in in Canvas (for grading). There will be no peer
review of Homework 10.

Feedback from your TA

Your seminar leader will grade your submission and report the result in Canvas. 

Complete means you have passed the assignment.

Incomplete means you have to hand in a revised version.

Fail means that you will have to submit a new version and attend the make-up seminar.
The Fail grade will only be applied in exceptional circumstances such as plagiarized work.