CPT S 317: AUTOMATA AND FORMAL LANGUAGES

Spring 2015, 3cr.

 

(JAN 12 - May 8)

SCHOOL OF EECS

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

 

 

MWF 15:10 - 16:00

CLEV 30W

 

Current announcements    Instructor & TAs contact    Course details    Grading and other course policies    Course online resources

 

Lecture notes    Homeworks    Course schedule   Learning Outcomes

 

 

ACTIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

INSTRUCTOR & TAs

 

Ananth Kalyanaraman

Weekly office hours: Tuesdays 3-4pm @ EME 237
            Email: Through OSBLE

 

Teaching assistants:

            Priyanka Ghosh
            Weekly office hours: Mondays 1:30-2:30pm @ Sloan 339
            Email: Through OSBLE

            Cewei Cui
            Weekly office hours: Fridays 11am-Noon @ Sloan 322
            Email: Through OSBLE
 

 

COURSE DETAILS

 

  • Course objectives:

    • Introduce concepts in automata theory and theory of computation

    • Identify different formal language classes and their relationships

    • Design grammars and recognizers for different formal languages

    • Prove or disprove theorems in automata theory using its properties

    • Determine the decidability and intractability of computational problems

  • Prerequisites:

    • CPTS 122
    • MATH 216 or equivalent

  • Required textbook:

    • "Introduction to automata theory, languages and computation"

    # Authors: JE Hopcroft, R Motwani and JD Ullman

    # Publisher:Addison Wesley/Pearson; 3rd Edition

 

GRADING & COURSE POLICIES

  • 8 homeworks (60%)  - best 7 out of 8 will be used toward final grade.

  •  2 midterms (20%)

  • 1 final exam (20%)

Homework policy:

  • Homeworks must be submitted in class as hardcopy on the due date mentioned in the homework.  Early submissions are allowed.

  • All homeworks must be done individually. Anyone cheating will receive a zero for that assignment and will be subject to the university's academic dishonesty/integrity policy. Cheating involves giving assistance to or receiving assistance from another individual. Academic Integrity Policy (please read)

  • Late submission policy:
  •     No late submissions will be allowed on any homework. However, earlier submissions are allowed at any time before due date (either in class or can be turned in at the instructor's office).
  •     Extensions may be allowed but only under extraordinary circumstances upon contacting the instructor well in advance (generally at least 1 week prior to the submission date).

Exam policy:    

  • Closed-book, closed-notes, comprehensive
  • Midterm Exam dates and syllabus will be announced in class as the exams approach. Tentative dates for these exams are posted on the course website schedule link. Please make sure you mark these on your calendar. Make-up exams can be offered but are extremely rare and only under excruciating/emergency circumstances. If you have a problem with the date, come and see the instructor well ahead of time (at least 2 weeks prior to the exam).

 

COURSE WEBSITE, OSBLE

The course will use two different web resources for different purposes:

  1. The "course website" (i.e., this page you are reading now) is where lecture notes and homeworks will be posted, and the course schedule will be maintained. See corresponding links.
  2. The OSBLE learning portal will be used for email exchanges, email announcements, and listing of useful web links/resources.
    Please see here for instructions on how to set up your OSBLE account and other personal settings. This is NOT an optional step. All students enrolled in this class should take care of this by the first week of the semester.

 

LECTURE NOTES

 

 

COURSE SCHEDULE

 

 

HOMEWORKS

 

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

 

  • Acquire a fundamental understanding of the core concepts in automata theory and formal languages.

  • An ability to design grammars and automata (recognizers) for different language classes.
  • An ability to identify formal language classes and prove language membership properties.
  • An ability to prove and disprove theorems establishing key properties of formal languages and automata.
  • Acquire a fundamental understanding of core concepts relating to the theory of computation and computational models including (but not limited to) decidability and intractability.


SAFETY ON CAMPUS

 

Washington State University is committed to enhancing the safety of the students, faculty, staff, and visitors. It is highly recommended that you review the Campus Safety Plan (http://safetyplan.wsu.edu/) and visit the Office of Emergency Management web site (http://oem.wsu.edu/) for a comprehensive listing of university policies, procedures, statistics, and information related to campus safety, emergency management, and the health and welfare of the campus community.

 

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

 

Reasonable accommodations are available for students with a documented disability. If you have a disability and need accommodations to fully participate in this class, please either visit or call the Access Center (Washington Building 217; 509-335-3417) to schedule an appointment with an Access Advisor. All accommodations MUST be approved through the Access Center.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS ARCHIVE


  • On Wedenesday, March 25, one of the TAs will cover solutions for HW4 in class. I will be on travel from Tuesday through Thursday. Will be back for Friday's class. Also, this means there will *not* be any office hour tomorrow (March 24).
  • HW5 posted below.
  • HW4 posted
  • HW3 has been posted below.
    HW2 has been posted below
    HW1 has been posted.
    As announced in class, NO class this *WEDNESDAY* (January 14) due to instructor travel. We will meet at the usual time on Friday.
  • Welcome to the class of Spring 2015! Please bookmark this website for your course. You will also need an OSBLE account (http://osble.org) which is an online portal that will be used for all class related announcements and emails. Instructions are here.