Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1996 21:43:46 GMT Server: NCSA/1.5 Content-type: text/html
Accordingly, we will develop several formal models of computation, each more powerful than the last. At each stage we will prove some of what our intuition suggests (and sometimes, what it denies) about these models. We will also see how most models admit two very different characterizations: one of machines that are able to recognize certain events, and another of grammars that are able to generate exactly what these machines recognize.
In particular, we will study regular languages, regular expressions, finite deterministic and nondeterministic automata, context-free grammars, pushdown automata, turing machines --- and more, if time allows.
6 Homeworks 60% Midterm 20% Thursday, October 19 Final 20% Saturday, December 16, 12:30-2:30pmNote that each test is worth 2 homeworks. The tests will be much simpler than the homeworks.
As with any writing, the first draft of a problem solution is usually unpresentable. All of the pieces may be there, but they tend to be chaotically assembled. The single most important thing you can do to make your solutions presentable is to rewrite them after you have discovered why they are correct, and then to throw away (or at least tuck away) your initial draft. Remember, scratch paper is cheap.
Be careful to realize that this emphasis on presentation has nothing to do with whether English is your native language or whether you prefer to write your solutions with pencil, pen, quill, or word processor. A well-written solution starts by stating assumptions and then works towards a clearly defined goal, emphasizing the overall direction and omitting the superfluous.
Assignments turned in late for any reason will be marked late and will be scored at 60% of their face value. Assignments turned in more than a week after they were due will be scored at 0% of their face value --- that is, we will still attempt to evaluate them, but they will not count towards your grade. For "excused" lateness, such as illness and family emergency, see the "Grading Appeals" section below.
col.lab.o.rate \k*-'lab-*-.ra-t\ \-.lab-*-'ra--sh*n\ \-'lab-*-.ra-t-iv\ \-.ra-t-*r\ vi [LL collaboratus, pp. of collaborare to labor together, fr. L com- + laborare to labor] 1: to work jointly with others esp. in an intellectual endeavor 2: to cooperate with or assist usu. willingly an enemy of one's country and esp. an occupying force 3: to cooperate with an agency or instrumentality with which one is not immediately connected - col.lab.o.ra.tion nCollaboration is encouraged (primarily in the first and third senses) when working on homework problems and preparing for exams. None of the problems in this class are intended to have secret solutions; the more resourceful you are at discovering solutions, the more time you will have to write them well. Indeed, if you are stuck on a problem, I will be happy to talk with you about it during office hours. However, the solutions you turn in must be your original writing. Copying a prepared solution is not collaboration at all; it is plagiarism.
pla.gia.rize \'pla--j*-.ri-z also -je--*-\ vt : to steal and pass off as one's own (the ideas or words of another) to present as one's own an idea or product derived from an existing source - pla.gia.riz.er nPlagiarizing another's words is not tolerated at Boston University. It is so disdained that there are specific procedures for accusing and punishing those who plagiarize. Do not copy another person's work and present it as your own.
(The above definitions were snatched from the Webster server at BU.)
Perhaps you will disagree about the grading of a particular problem or feel that an instance of lateness was justified. In order to bring this to my attention, you must prepare a written appeal with supporting documents and give it to me during the last week of class. I will carefully consider these appeals and make reasonable adjustments to your benefit when preparing the final grades.
This is only a mechanism for dealing with my gradebook in a fair manner. You are always welcome to approach me with your concerns.
If you don't know whether or how to write an appeal, use this as a guideline: I am likely to look more kindly upon "That was just a really bad week for me" than "My homework was always late because I... uh... had a headache."
csmail -a cs305
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) of 1939, claimed to be the first electronic digital computer. Photo courtesy of the History of Computing Page at Virginia Tech.