Introduction to Logic and Automata

Instructor: Prof. Joseph Leung

Office: 4202 GITC

Office Hrs: TW 4:00-6:00pm, 9:15-9:45pm

Phone: (973) 596-3387

Textbook: D.I.A. Cohen, "Introduction to Computer Theory," Second Edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1997.

Syllabus: Study formal methods, abstractions and techniques related to issues in computing, emphasizing applications to the theory of programming languages and computation. Topics include finite automata, regular expressions, regular languages and their properties, context-free languages and their properties, pushdown automata, Turing machines and undecidability. Cover Chapters 1-17, 19 and 23 of the textbook.

Grading: One midterm exam, several quizzes and one final exam. The midterm exam will be given around the 7th or 8th week and counts 35% of the grade. Quizzes are given in the 3rd, 6th, 10th and 13th week of the semester and count 25% of the grade. The best 3 scores in the quizzes will be used to compute the grade. The final exam is given in the final exam week and counts 40% of the grade. Homework will be given throughout the semester but will not count towards the grade; they are used to prepare for exams.