CSCI 8610           Topics in Theoretical Computer Science                 Fall 2006

Time/Room:	  5:00--7:00 Tues. & Thur., room 306 Boyd

Instructor:   R. W. Robinson                                    Office Hours:
              423 GSRC                                   3:00--4:00 Tues. and Thur.,
              542-2911                                         2:00--3:00 Fri., 
              rwr@cs.uga.edu                                  AND by appointment

Class Web Page: http://www.cs.uga.edu/~rwr/cs8610.html
	Links to all basic course information/updates on reading assignments, homework
        sets, etc.;  corrections, hints, announcements, e-mail queries (made anonymous)
        and answers to them will be accessible by links from the class web page.

Text:  notes by Jeff Shallit "Advanced Topics in Formal Languages and Automata 
       Theory".

Coverage: Section 4.7 and Chapters 5, 6, and 7.
          For completeness the topics for all seven chapters are listed below.  
          Chapters 2, 3, and 4 except Section 4.7 were covered in Fall 2005.

  Ch. 1  --  Review of Formal Languages and Automata Theory
             (all of this is covered in CSCI 2670)
  Ch. 2  --  Combinatorics on Words
  Ch. 3  --  Finite Automata and Regular Languages
  Ch. 4  --  Context-Free Languages and Grammars
             (advanced closure properties and properties beyond the 
              pumping lemma, deterministic CFLs)
  Ch. 5  --  Parsing and Recognition
             (top-down, bottom-up, LL(1) conflict resolution)
  Ch. 6  --  Turing Mchines
             (unrestricted grammars, Kolmogorov complexity, unsolvable
              problems for CFLs and CFGs)
  Ch. 7  --  Other Language Classes
             (context-sensitive languages, Chomsky hierarchy, 2DPDAs
              and Cook's theorem).

Course Organization:  the course will start with lectures on topics from
Jeff Shallit's notes, and homework assignments based on his extensive problem
sets.  Topics of particular interest to the participants will be selected
to be covered in depth, and some topics from the notes may be treated 
briefly or even omitted entirely.  Each student who is enrolled for credit
will pick (in consultation with the instructor) a related area and a few
research papers in that area to read and give a presentation in class.
The objective is for each student to become familiar with the advanced topics
listed above and to develop facility in formulating and testing conjectures
and in communicating the ideas and details of proofs.  The relative weight for
course assessment of homework sets will be 75%, and 25% for the presentation.
The final examination will be a summative evaluation of the entire term's work.

General Plan: The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations
              announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary. 

Honesty Policy: The overall UGA policy applies.  All academic work must meet 
   the standards contained in "A Culture of Honesty".  Students are responsible
   for informing themselves about those standards before performing any
   academic work.  The link to more detailed information about academic honesty
   can be found at http://www.uga.edu/ovpi/honesty/culture_honesty.htm
   The Computer Science Department Honesty Policy also applies
   (see link from class web page).

Deviations: The course syllabus is a general plan for the course; deviations
            announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary.