CMPS 260 Theoretical Foundations of Computer Science Spring 2019

Time and Place:  M-W-- 3:00pm - 4:15pm in LSC 114
Instructor:  Dr. R. McCloskey
Office:  LSC 191
Telephone:  941-4221 (office), 941-7774 (CS Dept. office), 941-4250 (fax)
E-mail:  robert.mccloskey@scranton.edu

Office Hours:  See schedule
Course Web Page:  http://www.cs.scranton.edu/~mccloske/courses/cmps260/index_s19.html
Textbook: An Introduction to Formal Languages and Automata (6th edition), by Peter Linz, published by Jones & Bartlett

CTLE: Services for Students

Reporting Obligations

Student Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of the course, a student should be able to

• identify the language classes in the Chomsky Hierarchy, know their relative positions within that hierarchy, and know which category of automaton and/or grammar gives rise to each class.
• design finite automata and regular expressions corresponding to informally described regular languages
• convert a given NFA into an equivalent DFA
• convert a given DFA into its equivalent minimal DFA
• convert a regular expression into an equivalent NFA, and vice versa
• design context-free grammars corresponding to informally described context-free languages
• show an understanding of top-down and bottom-up parsing
• demonstrate why various "extended" Turing machine models are no more powerful than the basic model
• appreciate the concept of undecidability and identify a few classic undecidable problems

Exams and quizzes:  Expect a 75-minute exam in late February or early March and possibly another one in mid-April.

A comprehensive two-hour final exam will be administered sometime during Final Exam Week, which is May 13-17. (Makeup exams will be offered only if circumstances warrant it, such as in the case of an emergency or sudden illness.)

A short quiz (taking about fifteen minutes) can be given during any class meeting, with or without prior warning.

Homework assignments: Expect a weekly homework assignment, which typically can be completed using pen(cil) and paper. There could be a few programming assignments, however.

Grading: Approximate weights of graded items:

Item	Approximate Weight
Semester Exams and Quizzes	32%
Final Exam	22%
Homeworks	44%
Class Participation	2%

Mapping from numerical average to letter grade (approximate):

Numeric Range	[94,100+]	[90,94)	[86,90]	[82,86)	[79,82]	[75,79)	[71,75]	[68,71)	[63,68]	[58,63)	[0,58)
Letter Grade	A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D+	D	F