smithj@cs.sjsu.edu
We will cover Section 1.5, Chapters 2-7, and much of Chapters 8 and 9 of the text. The major topics covered will be alphabets and languages, finite automata, context-free grammars, and Turing machines and computability. I will be assuming that you know the material in Sections 1.1-1.4; it's a good idea to check this material to see whether it's familiar to you. There will be a brief review of mathematical induction as we cover Section 1.5.
For each exam or assignment, numeric grades are given and intervals for each letter grade are assigned (usually 90% for A-, 80 for B-, etc.). Your course grade will be determined by comparing the sum of your numeric grades to the sum of the intervals, except that I often give a higher than this to students who have just one poor grade, or who have been improving throughout the course. The intervals for + and - grades are rather small. My standards for the I grade, for makeup exams, and for extending assignment due dates are quite strict. At a minimum, I expect documentation of why you cannot complete the work in the expected time.
See the separate sheet on Assignments for specific requirements for submissions. This and other useful documents will be available on the class web page at
The work you turn in for this class should be entirely your own unless I explicity specify otherwise. Do not share your work with anyone else. Please become familiar with the official university definition and policy on academic integrity, as stated in the 2004-2006 catalog, pp. 460-1, or at http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/catalog/rec-1155.html and http://www2.sjsu.edu/senate/S04-12.htm. Additional information on this topic is available on the class web site.