Instructor : Dr. Liming Cai
Office: 544 Boyd
Phone : 542-6081
Email : cai@cs.uga.edu
Office hours : 10:00-11:00 (Mon and Thur) or by appointment
Teaching Assistant:

Mr. Mohammad Mohebbi
email: mohebbi.m at gmail.com
office: 301A Boyd
office hours: 1:30-3:30 Mon or by appointment.

Final Exam Schedule: 12:00pm-3:00pm Thursday December 6, 2012, Room 240 Poultry Science.

Additional Office hours: 9:30-11:00, 1-2:30 Wednesday Dec 5, 2012.

Homework Assignments

Assignment 1
Assignment 2
Assignment 3
Assignment 4
Assignment 5
Assignment 6
Assignment 7
Assignment 8 (Due 5:00pm Tuesday Dec 4, 2012).

Lecture Notes

Lecture note 1: I Review (Chapter 0).
Lecture note 2: II Automata and Languages: Chapter 1 Regular languages.
Lecture note 3: Chapter 2 Context-free langauges.
Lecture note 4: Chapter 3 Church-Turing Thesis.
Lecture note 5: Chapter 4 Decidability.

This course introduces the theory for computation, addressing fundamental questions such as what problems can or cannot be computed. Lectures use formal languages as the simplest form for computation problems, upon which computability is discussed with respect to a hierarchy of computation machine models: finite automata, push-down automata, and Turing machines. Computabilities of these models are proved in terms of their capabilities to recognize a corresponding hierarchy of formal languages, including regular languages and context-free languages. Equivalence among formal languages and thus undecidability are discussed via the notion of reduction. Computational complexity is also presented based on Turing machines with limited resources (i.e., bounded time and space).

This course also covers typical applications of automata and formal languages in text processing and biomedical research. In addition, new computation models based on bio-molecule programming will be briefly introduced as a potential development of computations with models beyond the classical (Turing) computers.

Prerequisites:

Grade C or higher on CSCI (MATH) 2610 Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science.


Texts:

Introduction to the Theory of Computation, second edition, Michael Sipser, Course Technology, 2005.
[Errata: http://www-math.mit.edu/~sipser/itoc-errs2.1.html]

Grading policy:
Homework and pop quizzes: 30%
Two in class midterm exams : 40%
Final exam: 30%
Late homework answers:

15% off for one day late,
35% off for two days late,
50% off for three days late.

Tentative schedule:

Chapter 0. Introduction (one week)
Chapter 1. Regular languages and finite automata (4-5 weeks)

The first exam

Chapter 2. Context-free languages and pushdown automata (4-5 weeks)

The second exam

Chapter 3. The Church-Turing Thesis (2 week)
Chapter 4. Decidability (one week)
Chapter 5. Reducibility (one week)
Chapters 7-8. Time and space complexities (3-4 weeks)

Final exam

Academic Dishonesty:
It is expected that the work you submit is your own. Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty will be handled within the guidelines of the Student Handbook. The usual penalty for academic dishonesty is loss of credit for the assignment in question; however, stronger measures may be taken when conditions warrant.

Attendance policy:

Regular class attendance is required though class attendance may not be used in the final determination of grades. Students are required to attend class during the regularly scheduled tests and the final exam unless prior arrangements have been made.

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