Formal Language and Automata
Lei Bu
[email protected]
•This course: A study of
abstract models of computers and computation.
•Why theory, when computer field is so practical?
•Theory provides concepts and principles, for both hardware
and software that help us understand the general nature of the
field.
Why Study Automata?
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A survey of Stanford grads 5 years out asked
which of their courses did they use in their job.
Basics like intro-programming took the top spots,
of course.
But among optional courses, formal language and
automata stood remarkably high.
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How Could That Be?
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Regular expressions are used in many systems.
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E.g., UNIX a.*b.
E.g., DTD’s describe XML tags with a RE format like
person (name, addr, child*).
Finite automata model protocols, electronic circuits.
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How? – (2)
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Context-free grammars are used to describe the
syntax of essentially every programming language.
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Not to forget their important role in describing natural
languages.
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How? – (3)
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When developing solutions to real problems, we
often confront the limitations of what software can
do.
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Undecidable things – no program whatever can do it.
Intractable things – there are programs, but no fast
programs.
Automata theory gives you the tools.
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Outline
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Part 1: Preliminaries
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Mathematical Knowledge
String and Language
Part 2:
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Finite Automata and Regular Expression
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Context Free Grammar and Pushdown Automata
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Turing Automata
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Part 3 Modeling:
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Transition System
Petri Net
Timed and Hybrid Automata
Message Sequence Chart
Part 4: Tutorials
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Computability
Model Checking
Trustworthy Software
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Textbook
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Referred Reading
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John E. Hopcroft, Rajeev Motwani, Jeffery D.Ullman. Introduction to
Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation, 3/E. Pearson Education
India, 2008. (The Cinderella Book)
Michael Sipser. Introduction to the Theory of Computation, 2nd
Edition,Course Technology, 2005.
Derick Wood. Theory of Computation. HAPPER & ROW, 1987.
Doron Peled. Software Reliability Methods. Springer, 2011
WEB
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http://cs.nju.edu.cn/bulei/fm14.html
http://cs.nju.edu.cn/bulei/fm13.html
Grading
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Assignment 30%
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Distributed in the class, due in the following week.
Final Exam 70%
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You can use anything you want except Internet