This schedule is only a minor variation from the schedule I (David Taylor) used the last time I taught this course. Dates are subject to change, but the first midterm will be given in the first half of March. On March 18, I will return from leave, and we will take assessment then of where we stand in the overall schedule.
| Date | Topics Covered | Readings (Linz, Formal Languages and Automata, 4th Ed.) |
|
| January 24 | Class Administrivia | None so far | |
| January 29 | Review of basics: Counting, Sets, Functions, and Asymptotic Notation | Chapter 1.1 | |
| January 31 | Review of basics: Equivalence Classes, Graphs,
and Proofs Languages |
Chapters 1.1, 1.2 through page 20 |
|
| February 5 | Languages, Grammars, Automata, Examples. DFAs and Regular Languages |
Chapters 1.2, 1.3, 2.1 | |
| February 7 | Introduction to jflap software, introduction to NFAs Note, JFLAP will sometimes algorithms which are variants of those in the textbook. |
Chapters 2.2, 2.3 | |
| February 12 | NFA equivalence to DFAs, start DFA minimization | Chapter 2.4, JFLAP tutorial/help | |
| February 14 | DFA minimization and Regular Expressions | Chapter 2.4, 3.1 | |
| February 19 | Regular Expression/Regular Language Equivalence (RegExp to NFA, NFA to RegExp) |
Section 3.2 | |
| February 21 | Regular Grammars, Closure Properties of Regular Languages |
Sections 3.3, 4.1 | |
| February 26 | Finish Regular Language Closure Properties, Questions about Regular Languages | Section 4.2 | |
| February 28 | Finish Questions about Regular Languages, Pigeon Hole Principle, Pumping Lemma, Non-Regular Languages | Section 4.3 | |
| March 4 | Review for Midterm 1 | Chapters 1-4 | |
| March 6 | Midterm 1 | Chapters 1-4 | |
| March 11 | Midterm 1 Returned Start Context Free Grammars |
Section 5.1 | |
| March 13 | Context Free Grammars, Derivations, and Ambiguity | Sections 5.2, 5.3 (5.3 on your own) | |
| March 18 | David Taylor returns. Time to synchronize | ||
| March 20 | Simplifying CFGs and Parsing | Section 6.1 | |
| April 1 | Chomsky Normal Form | Section 6.2 through page 167. | |
| April 3 | Pushdown Automata | Section 7.1. | |
| April 8 | Pushdown Automata and CFGs | Sections 7.1-7.2 through page 190. (You may also skim 190-195.) | |
| April 10 | Determinism, LL(k) grammars, CF Pumping Lemma | Section Section 7.3, 7.4 (Pages 198-200, and 7.4 may be
skimmed.) Read Section 8.1 through page 209. |
|
| April 15 | Closure Properties for CFLs, Decision Algorithms, Review | Section 8.2 | |
| April 17 | Second Midterm | Chapters 1-8, especially 5-8 | |
| April 22 | Second Midterm Returned, Turing Machines | Section 9.1 | |
| April 24 | More Turing Machines, Building Blocks, Turings Thesis | All of Chapter 9 (9.1-9.3) | |
| April 29 | Turning Machine Variants: (Stationary Option, MultiTrack,
MultiTape) Universal Turing Machines |
Section 10.1 (p 250-253), 10.2 (258-260), 10.4 (all) | |
| May 1 | Turing Machine Languages | Section 11.1 | |
| May 6 | More R.E. vs. Recursive | Sections 11.1, 11.4 (We have only covered type 0,
2, and 3 in the Chomsky hierarchy.), 12.1, and also read the definition of the Post correspondence problem, pages 309-310 |
|
| May 8 | More Explanation of HTM and ATM. Rice's Thm | Section 12.1, 12.2 | |
| May 13 | Review | Last Class! | |
| May 15 Thursday, 12:15 |
Final Examination | Everything we have seen, especially after chapter 8. |