Theory of Computation (CS 243)

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TOPICS: Introduction to theoretical foundations of computer science.  Automata and languages: Regular Languages, Context-Free Languages. Computability Theory:  The Church-Turing Thesis. Decidability. Reducibility. Complexity Theory: Time Complexity. Space Complexity.
(From the text-book: All chapters from the beginning to Chapter 8, excluding Chapter 6, including only Section 8.1 from Chapter 8)
  • Text book:  Michael Sipser. Introduction to the Theory of Computation.  Thomson Course Technology. ISBN 0-534-95097-3.
  • MWF 2:30-3:20pm, Lafayette L302
  • Instructor: Abdullah Arslan (aarslan@cs.uvm.edu)
    • Office:  Votey 317
    • Phone: X62538
    • Office hours: W 3:30-5:00 pm, F 1:00-2:30 pm
  • Teaching Assistant: Helen (yhe@cs.uvm.edu)
    • Office:  Votey 347.
    • Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 3:30-5:00 pm.
  • Prerequisite: CS 104.
    • Tentative Grading Scheme:
    Assignments
    HW1 (sol), HW2 (sol), HW3 (sol), HW4 (sol), PROG1, HW5 (sol), HW 6 (sol)
    30 %
    2 In-Class Exams:
    Exam 1 was on October 26, Wednesday
    Exam 2  was on December 2, Friday
    2 x 20 %
    Final Exam is on Tuesday, December 13 at 12NOON (Schedule for Fall 2006)
    30 %
    Assignments and exams may have additional questions directed only to graduate students.
    The letter grades to undergraduate students will be determined after the graduate students are assigned their letter grades.
    Late assignments will not be accepted for credit, unless there are exceptional and documented medical or family problems.
    Keeping Informed. All assignments, projects and changes to the course material will be announced on this web page. It is your responsibility to check this page it on a regular basis.
    Academic Honesty. In regular assignments, you may discuss the problems to gain better understanding and more insight into the problems but the specifics related to work on which you are evaluated must be done by yourself. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
    Special needs. If you are entitled to extra accommodation for any reason (such as a disability), we will make every reasonable attempt to accommodate you. However, it is your responsibility to discuss this with the instructor at the beginning of the course.
    Announcements

    November 21. HW 6 is posted. Find it in the above table.
    November 18. HW5 is posted. Find it in the above table.
    October 20.  Since I had to cancel the lecture on Oct. 19, Wednesday, I could not cover enough material/example relevant to these questions. Therefore if you would like you can turn in your answers to Questions 3 and 5 on Monday, Oct. 24 in the lectures. We will grade whatever you turn in for HW4 on Friday and return it to you on Monday.You have the option of doing or redoing Questions 3 and 5
    and turning them in on Monday. If you do so, we will grade/regrade them later but we will not be able to return them to you before the exam.
    October 16. HW4 and programming assignment PROG1 are posted.
    October 7. HW3 is posted. Find it above.
    September 23. HW2 is posted. Find it in the table above.
    September 9. HW1 is posted. Find it in the table above.

    Last updated: December 7, 2005