Tex as A& M Uni ver si t y - Commer c e

Course Syllabus
#


CSCI549
AUTOMATA THEORY
May Mini, 2013
Department of Computer Science
College of Arts and Sciences
# Course syllabus is tentative and subject to change at any time during the semester. Any changes will be announced in class.


Instructor: Dr. Sang C. Suh, Head and Professor, Department of Computer Science
Texas A&M University - Commerce
Office Hours: T, R 3:00-5:00PM OR by appointment
[Office: J our124 Phone: 903.468.8199 E-mail:[email protected]
Email communication is strongly encouraged as an effective way for communication.

Class Meetings: MTWR 11:00a-2:50p Location: J OUR129 - CSCI 549-01M-30031 Hours:3
Meets 5/13/2013 through 5/29/2013

Textbook:
Introduction to Computer Theory by Daniel I. A. Cohen
J ohn Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997, 2nd Ed. ISBN 0-471-13772-3

Tentative Schedule:
PART I: Chapters 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11
PART II: Chapters 12,13,14,15,16 and 17
PART III: Chapters 19 and 20


Course Objectives:
This course is one of the five core courses for M.S. degree in Computer Science at Texas
A&M University - Commerce. The primary goal of this course is to provide fundamental
introduction to the design of programming languages (PL). Both the theoretical foundations
of PL and its practical aspect will be studied by covering chapters 1 through 20. The
fundamental topics to be covered in this course include regular expressions, finite
automata, (non-)regular languages, context-free grammars, regular grammars, Chomsky
normal forms, pushdown automata, (non-)context-free languages, parsing and Turing
machines. These fundamentals are essential prerequisite for those who may pursue more
advanced topics and applications of Computer Science. Since the ultimate goal of
automata theory is the construction of efficient program languages, no study of automata is
complete without some experience designing grammars. For this purpose, a medium-
scale program language design project will be assigned as a class project. The design
project is an essential part of the successful course completion. The grading will be based
on the following criteria:

Students with Disabilities Act Compliance:
Students requesting accommodations for disabilities must go through the Academic
Support Committee. For more information, please contact the Director of Disability
Resources & Services, Halladay Student Services Bldg., Room 303D, (903) 886-5835


Academic Ethics and Honesty Statement:
Scholastic dishonesty is a violation of the Code of Student Conduct. Scholastic dishonesty
includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a test, plagiarism, and collusion. "All students
enrolled at the University shall follow the tenets of common decency and acceptable
behavior conducive to a positive learning environment." (See Student's Guide Handbook,
Policies and Procedures, Conduct).
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating on tests, plagiarism and
collusion. Cheating includes copying from another students test or homework
assignments or projects or quizzes, using materials not authorized, collaborating with or
seeking aid from another student during a test, knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, or
soliciting the contents of an unadministered test, and substituting for another person to take
a test. Plagiarism is the appropriating, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any
means anothers work and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of it in ones
own written work. Collusion is the unauthorized collaboration with another person in
preparing written work for fulfillment of course requirements. Academic dishonesty is a
serious offense in college. You will be given not only a failing grade on the assignment or
test, but also a failing grade for the class. Further, it will result in suspension from college.


Plagiarism:
In any written paper or test or assignment or quiz or project including code and document,
you are guilty of the academic offense known as plagiarism if you half-copy or copy the
author's sentences, words or any part of the content. This will result in an automatic
grade of " F" for the course. Hence any of these must be fully avoided in order not to fail
from the class. Students copying from work done in previous semesters by former students
as well as copying from internet sources without proper reference will result in the failure of
the course. You cannot mix the author's words with your own or "plug" your synonyms into
the author's sentence structure. To prevent unintentional borrowing, resist the temptation
to look at the source as you write. The author's words, phrases, sentences must be put in
your words, in your way of writing! When you do this, you are demonstrating the ability of
understanding and comprehension!

Food and Drink Policy:
Food, drinks, and tobacco products are prohibited in Eastfield College classrooms.

Attendance Policy:
Students are expected to be present at all class lectures. The fact that classes are
scheduled is evidence that attendance is important and students should, therefore,
maintain regular attendance if they are to attain maximum success in the pursuit of their
studies. If a student is absent from class on the due date of any assignment due to
unavoidable circumstances, he should make every effort to contact the instructor to notify
and is expected to make alternative arrangements ASAP to assure that the assignment is
turned in ON TIME. Any excuse for the absence from the class must be made before the
class period through email, phone, and/or other means of communication. Any student who
misses 2 or more days/classes will automatically be dropped one letter grade. Any student
who misses 4 or more days/classes will automatically result in the failure of class. NOTE:
There are no extra points for coming to class. Any student wishing to withdraw from the
course must do so officially as outlined in the class schedule. THE INSTRUCTOR
CANNOT DROP OR WITHDRAW ANY STUDENT.




Course Requirement Deadlines:
Credit will be given for ONLY those exam(s), program(s), and/or project(s) turned in no
later than the deadline(s) as announced by the instructor of this class unless prior
arrangement has been made with the instructor.

Method of Evaluation (Tentative):
Two Tests (70%, in class all closed book 30/40)
Term Project (30%)

Course Grade System:
100 90 - A
89 80 - B
79 70 - C
69 60 - D
Below 60 - F


Tentative Course Outline:

MEETINGS DATES SUBJ ECTS TO BE COVERED
1 5/13(M) Course introduction
Chapters 2 & 3 (language & RD)
Chapter 4 (regular expressions)

2 5/14(T) Chapter 5 (finite automata)
Chapters 6 & 7 (TG & Kleenes theorem)

3 5/15(W) Chapters 8 & 9 (Mealy & Moore machines)
Chapters 10 & 12 (NRL & CFG)

4 5/16(R) Chapters 13 & 14 (CNFG & PDA)

5 5/20(M) Midterm Exam

6 5/21(T) Projects Phase I (Project Discussion)

7 5/22 (W) Chapters 17 & 19 (CFL & TM)

8 5/23 (R) Final Exams

9 5/28(T) Project Presentations

10 5/29(W) Reserved for special projects