Reading assignments are from Sipser, An Introduction to the Theory of Computation, third (or second) edition, available through the university's eCampus entity and elsewhere.
Class meetings are MW 5:30-6:45 in room S131 ILC, unless there are future changes due to COVID. (We would likely have synchronous meetings at those times in that case.)
The Spring 2021 lectures are asynchronous and will be on Echo360. There are five lectures for each week of classes, and the chapter and section numbers from Sipser are given for each week below.
On most Monday class sessions there will be synchronous in-class discussions, where students will be presented with a problem and solve in in groups using breakout rooms. Attendance is required -- if you cannot make a meeting for good reasons, apply for an excused absence on the Moodle site.
The remaining class sessions will be "semi-lectures" and attendance will not be graded. They will be recorded on Echo360.
There will be one midterm exam, during class time on Monday 10 April, with a review session during the previous semi-lecture. There will be a final exam scheduled by the University during finals period.
PART I: Regular, Context-Free and Computable Languages
Week 1 Video Lectures: Basics, Induction, Regular Expressions (0, 1.3)
Mon 06 Feb Semi-Lecture 1
Wed 08 Feb Semi-Lecture 2
Week 2 Video Lectures: Finite Automata, Kleene, Myhill-Nerode (1)
Mon 13 Feb Feb Semi-Lecture 3 (UGRAD ADD/DROP)
Wed 15 Feb Discussion #1
Week 3 Video Lectures: Context-Free Languages (2.1-2.3)
Mon 20 Feb NO CLASS (Presidents' Day holiday)
Tue 21 Feb (GRAD ADD/DROP)
Wed 22 Feb Semi-Lecture 4 (MONDAY SCHEDULE)
Mon 27 Feb Discussion #2
Week 4 Video Lectures: Turing Machines, CT Thesis (3)
Wed 01 Mar Semi-Lecture 5
Mon 06 Mar Discussion #3
Week 5 Video Lectures: Decidability (4)
Wed 08 Mar Semi-Lecture 6
SPRING BREAK
Mon 20 Mar Discussion #4
Week 6 Video Lectures: Reducibility (5)
Wed 22 Mar Semi-Lecture 7
Mon 27 Mar Discussion #5
Week 7 Video Lectures): Recursion Theorem, Kolmogorov (6.1, 6.4)
Wed 29 Mar Semi-Lecture 8
Mon 03 Apr Discussion #6
Week 8 Review and MIDTERM on Ch. 1-6
Wed 05 Apr Review Session
Mon 10 Apr MIDTERM EXAM on Chapters 1-6 (Weeks 1-7)
PART II: Complexity Theory
Week 9 Video Lectures: Time Complexity, P and NP (7.1-7.3)
Wed 12 Apr Semi-Lecture 9
Mon 17 Apr NO CLASS (Patriots' Day holiday)
Wed 19 Apr Discussion #7
Week 10 Video Lectures: NP Completeness (7.4, 7.5)
Mon 24 Apr Semi-Lecture 10
Wed 26 Apr Discussion #8
Week 11 Video Lectures: Space Complexity (8.1-8.3)
Mon 01 May Semi-Lecture 11
Week 12 Video Lectures: Logspace Complexity (8.4-8.6)
Wed 03 Semi-Lecture 12 (MONDAY SCHEDULE)
Mon 08 May Discussion #9
Week 13 Video Lectures: Circuit Complexity and the NC Classes
Wed 10 May Semi-Lecture 13
Mon 15 May Discussion #10
Wed 17 May Review Session
FINAL EXAM (cumulative): To be assigned by the University, in exam period
Last modified 20 January 2023