University of Nevada Las Vegas
Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering
Department of Computer Science
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Computer Science 456/656
Automata and Formal Languages
Spring 2016

Check the Assignments and Lecture Topics Page frequently. Revised January 28, 2016.

Instructor:
Dr. Larmore
Office, TBE B378B. Telephone ☎ 702-895-1096. Email: larmore "at" egr "dot" unlv "dot" edu
Office Hours: Subject to Change.
11:00-11:30 Mondays and Wednesdays.
3:00 - 4:00 Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Contacting Me:
You may telephone my office. Please do not leave a telephone message.
It's best to send me email. Be sure to write "CS456" (or "CS656") in the subject field so that I know what the message is about. (I delete lots of messages without reading them, based on the subject fields.)
Please, never try to communicate with me by leaving notes on my door, under my door, or in my mailbox in the department office, as those notes get lost, and I can't retrieve them remotely.
If it is necessary to give me something, please leave it with the department staff, and then send me an email message saying that the item has been left for me.
Graduate Assistant:
Ashok Adhikari
Email: adhika1 "at" unlv "dot" nevada "dot" edu
Office Hours: 2:00 to 3:00 Tuesdays and Thursdays TBE B346
Bikash Lama Bamjan
Email: lamabamj "at" unlv "dot" nevada "dot" edu
Office Hours: 3:00 to 4:00 Mondays and Wednesdays TBE B346
Days of Instruction:
January 19, 2016 - May 6, 2016.
Spring Break:
March 22 and March 24.
Time of Instruction:
4:00 - 5:15, Tuesday and Thursday.
Place of Instruction:
TBE B176.
Textbook:
Introduction to the Theory of Computation, by Michael Sipser. PWS.
We are using the most recent edition, which is the third. However, if you have the first or second edition, that will be acceptable.
Prerequisites:
CS 302 (Data Structures)
MAT 351 (Discrete Mathematics II).
Click here if you did not take both CSC 302 and MAT 351 at UNLV and receive a grade of "C" or better in each of those two courses.
Graduate Students:
If you want graduate credit, you must enroll in 656, not 456.
Each CSC 656 student must turn in at least one challenge problem and turn it in by the last week of class. CS 456 students are also permitted to work challenge problems, but I will not permit students to improve a poor grade in this manner. The reason for this policy is that I want students who are doing poorly in the course to devote their energy to mastering the regular material.
Compiler Construction:
CS 456/656 is a prerequisite for CS 460/CS 678 (Compiler Construction).
I do not advise you to take that course concurrently.
Written Homework:
will be assigned, collected, and graded. You are permitted to discuss homework. The first assignment, due January 26, 2016.
Examinations:
First Examination: Tuesday, February 23.
Second Examination: Thursday, April 14.
Final Examination: Tuesday, May 10, 6pm to 8pm.
Grading:
Your grade will be based on:
  • The first examination.
  • The second examination.
  • The homework.
  • The final examination.
Although the homework will take a substantial amount of time to work, and will actually be harder than the examinations, it counts for a smaller part of the grade. The reason for this is that I allow you to work together on homework. If you work the homework regularly, you should do well on the examinations.
Topics to be Covered

This course is arguably the most interesting in the Computer Science core curriculum. During this Semester, you will learn the accurate meanings of a number of
terms that you have probably heard. In some cases, you will have to unlearn what you previously believed! For example, you will learn the following concepts:
  • Automaton. The plural of "automaton" is "automata." [Greek]
  • Language. (You may have thought you knew this one!)
  • Grammar. (You probably thought you knew this one, too!)
  • Turing Machine.
  • Universal Turing Machine. A machine that can do anything that any machine in this or any other universe could possibly do. But, rather slowly!
  • NP-complete. Almost everyone in computer science has heard this term, but few can give a precise definition.
  • There are problems that are undecidable. There are propositions that are true but for which there is no proof. I don't mean no one has found a proof yet, I mean that no proof can exist at all! There are problems, such as the halting problem, which cannot be solved by any algorithm. No future genius with a finite intellect will ever find one, not in this (or any other) universe, ever, and I will prove that to you.
  • Computable Functions. There are functions which cannot be computed by any machine that could ever be built.
  • P = NP? The most famous open question in all of computer science. What does this mean? What does it mean in practical terms?

Detailed description of the CYK algorithm.

Homework and tests from prior semesters are available.