CS503 2026 Spring – Homework Repository

Welcome to the CS503 homework repository. This repository contains all homework and tutorial materials used throughout the course.

Repository structure

1. Transformer_Homework

   • Homework 1: introduction to transformer architectures for sequence modeling.

2. NanoFM_Homeworks

   • Homework 2: nanoGPT and nanoMaskGIT — small-scale implementations of GPT-style language modeling and MaskGIT-style image token modeling.
   • Homework 3: nano4M — a small-scale implementation of 4M-style multi-modal model.
   • Homework 4: nanoVLM and nanoFlowMatching (to be released) — vision-language modeling and flow-matching based generative modeling.
   • This folder also includes environment setup scripts, cluster submission scripts, and training utilities shared across the NanoFM homeworks.

In addition, we provide several tutorials:

1. Cluster_Tutorial: overview of the two main compute resources used in this course (SCITAS and GNOTO) and how to run jobs on them. We recommend running the Transformer homework on GNOTO and the NanoFM homeworks on SCITAS.

• SCITAS_Tutorial: detailed instructions for running interactive and batch jobs on SCITAS (Izar).
• GNOTO_Tutorial: detailed guide for running in a JupyterLab-based environment (GNOTO).

2. PyTorch_Tutorial: a brief PyTorch refresher for those not familiar with PyTorch (however, we do not recommend taking this course if this is your first time using PyTorch). The tutorial will not be graded.

Important note on compute resources: GPU resources are limited and shared across the class. Do not wait until the last day to start or finish your homework. If you cannot obtain GPUs due to last-minute congestion, this will not be accepted as a valid reason for late submission or deadline extension.

Submission details

We provide an overview of the submission requirements, score distribution, and deadlines below. Please also carefully follow the detailed instructions in each notebook and any announcements on Moodle for the most up-to-date requirements.

1. Transformer Homework (5%) — due 8 March, 23:59

   • Submit:
     • CS503_Transformer_Homework.ipynb with all required cells completed and outputs saved.

2. nanoGPT (5%) & nanoMaskGIT (10%) — due 22 March, 23:59

   • Submit:
     • CS503_FM_part1_nanoGPT.ipynb with all required cells completed and outputs saved.
     • gpt.py with all required sections implemented.
     • transformer_layers.py with task-specific functions implemented.
     • CS503_FM_part2_nanoMaskGIT.ipynb with all required cells completed and outputs saved.
     • maskgit.py with all required sections implemented.
     • assets.zip file containing the required screenshot images.

3. nano4M (15%) — due 12 April, 23:59

   • Submit:
     • CS503_FM_part3_nano4M.ipynb with all required cells completed and outputs saved.
     • fourm.py with all required sections implemented.
     • assets.zip file containing the required screenshot images.
     • transformer_layers.py with task-specific functions implemented.

4. nanoVLM (7.5%) & nanoFlowMatching (7.5%) — due 26 April, 23:59

   • For NanoFlowMatching, submit:
     • CS503_FM_part4_nanoFlowMatching.ipynb (make sure to execute all cells)
     • dit.py with all required sections implemented.
     • rectified_flow.py with all required sections implemented.
   • For NanoVLM, submit:
     • CS503_FM_part5_nanoVLM.ipynb (make sure to execute all cells and include the training curves as a .png file in the assets folder so that they render correctly in the notebook)
     • data/collators.py with all required sections implemented.
     • models/modality_projector.py with all required sections implemented.
     • models/language_model.py with all required sections implemented.
     • models/vision_language_model.py with all required sections implemented.
     • assets.zip file containing the required screenshot images.

For environment setup, training commands, and cluster (SCITAS/IZAR) usage related to nanoGPT, nanoMaskGIT, and nano4M, please see the detailed instructions in NanoFM_Homeworks/README.md.

Please submit all materials via the course Moodle page. Submission links will be released at the latest two weeks before each homework deadline.