CSC 456/656

Computer Science 456/656: Automata and Formal Languages

Spring 1998

Instructor: Dr. Larmore Office, TBE A214. Telephone, 895-1096
Graduate Assistant: At the present time, there is no graduate assistant assigned to assist with this course.
Room and Time: TBE B178, Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:00 PM to 5:15 PM.
Days of Instruction: January 21, 1998 -- May 6, 1998.
Holidays: February 16, April 6, April 8.
Final Examination: Wednesday, May 13, 6:00 P.M.
Midterm Examinations: February 18, March 18.
Textbook: ``Introduction to Languages and the Theory of Computation," by John C. Martin.
Prerequisites: CSC 269 (Introduction to Data Structures) and MAT 351 (Discrete Mathematics II).
Postrequisite: CSC 478/678 (Compiler Construction)

This course is arguably the most interesting in the Computer Science core curriculum. During this Semester, you will learn the accurate meanings of a number of terms that you have probably heard. In some cases, you will have to unlearn what you previously believed! For example, you will learn the following concepts:

Automaton.
Language. (You may have thought you knew this one!)
Grammar. (You probably thought you knew this one, too!)
Turing Machine.
Universal Turing Machine. The machine that can do anything that any machine in this or any other universe could possibly do. But, rather slowly!
NP-complete. Almost everyone in computer science has heard this term. You will learn the precise meaning.
Undecidability. There are problems that are undecidable. There are propositions that are true but for which there is no proof. I don't mean no one has found a proof yet, I mean that no proof can exist at all! There are problems, such as the halting problem, which cannot be solved by any algorithm. No future genius, with a finite intellect, will ever find one, not in this (or any other) universe, ever.
P = NP? The most famous open question in all of computer science. What does this mean? What does it mean in practical terms?

Written Homework will be assigned, collected, and graded. You are permitted to discuss homework. The first assignment will be handed out on Wednesday, January 15, and will be collected in class Wednesday, January 22. (If you cannot attend class that day, leave your homework, in an envelope, with one of the office staff, on or before that day.)

Homework and tests from prior semesters are available.

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