Welcome to CptS 317 Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation Fall 2019

1. Welcome to CptS317 Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation Fall 2019 Instructor: John Miller, FLO 134E Office hours: Tu & Th3-5pm jhmiller@tricity.wsu.edu TA: Antonio Ledesma FLO 145 Office hours: To be determined Check class web page for syllabus, lecture notes and assignments http://www.tricity.wsu.edu/~jhmiller

2. Objectives: Introduce students to finite automata and formal languages. • Textbook: “Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages and Computation, 3th Edition by Hopcroft, Motwani, and Ullman, Available at Bookie • Student learning outcomes: • Understand and use induction as a method of proof • Understand and design finite automata • Understand regular expressions and their relation to finite automata • Understand the properties of regular languages • Understand the properties of context-free grammars and languages • Understand and design push-down automata

3. ABET Student Outcomes • Analyze a complex computing problem and apply principles of computing and other relevant disciplines to identify solutions. • Performance Indicators: • a. Decomposes a real-world scenario or problem statement into set of sub-problems that need to be addressed in order to solve the original problem. • b. Identifies constraints and requirements of a problem. • c. Formulates computing problems in such a way that they can be addressed through approaches and methods appropriate to the discipline. • d. Chooses an approach, method or tool that is appropriate to addressing the problem at hand. • e. Applies principles, methods, or tools from engineering, computing, science, mathematics and/or other relevant disciplines to identify viable approaches and correctly solve problem.

4. Assessment of learning outcomes: No midterm exam. Homework, quizzes, and final exam have equal weight in determination of final grade. Testing will consist of math problems like those in homework assignments and/or class notes. Expectation of student effort: Students are expected to attend class regularly, contribute to class discussions, and participate in the solution of math problems that are like those in homework assignments and on quizzes. Students are expected to complete all homework assignments correctly prior to testing on the material related to those assignments. Attendance policy: No direct penalty to grade for missing class accept on testing days; however, from past experience of the instructor, students who rarely attend class, rarely get a C or better final grade. Makeup quizzes will be treated on a case-by-case basis. Final exam must be taken on the assigned date and time unless prior approval for an alternate date and/or time has been given by the instructor.

5. Description of required assignments: All required assignments will be math problems like examples in class notes and/or worked in class. Grading policy: No partial credit on homework assignments (100% for correct work completed before testing on related material, 80% for correct work completed after testing on related material). Homework can be redone as many times as needed to get complete correctness. No homework accepted after the last class period before final exam week. Partial credit is given for partially correct problems on quizzes and final exam.

6. Nuts and bolts Blackboardwill NOT be used for course management. Syllabus, lecture notes and assignments will be posted on the class web page. Questions about grades will be answered during office hours. Mid-term grades will be an indication of your progress in this class. Students receiving a grade of C or lower at midterm are advised meet with the instructor to implement a plan that will improve performance. Reasonable accommodations are available for students with a documented disability. All accommodations must be approved. For more information contact a disability specialist on your campus: vpue.wsu.edu/policies/statements/#reasonable-accommodation The WSU Tri-Cities Writing Center is a free, drop-in, peer tutoring service and academic resource available to all students, of any discipline.  Our goal is to create a positive, encouraging, and inclusive writing community through supporting students during any phase of the writing process. We will open during the 3rd week of the semester and are located on the second floor of the Max. E. Benitz Library.

7. Academic Integrity: Academic integrity is the cornerstone of higher education. As such, all members of the university community share responsibility for maintaining and promoting the principles of integrity in all activities, including academic integrity and honest scholarship. Academic integrity will be strongly enforced in this course. Students who violate WSU’s Academic Integrity Policy (identified in Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 504-26-010(3) and -404) will not have the option to withdraw from the course pending an appeal, will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct, may fail the assignment or the course depending on the particular circumstance. Cheating includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism and unauthorized collaboration as defined in the Standards of Conduct for Students, WAC 504-26010(3). Please read and understand all of the definitions of cheating: http://app.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=504-26-010. If you have any questions about what is and is not allowed in this course, ask me before proceeding. If you wish to appeal a faculty member's decision relating to academic integrity, please use the form available at conduct.wsu.edu.

8. The Student Success Center: (CIC, second floor of library) includes academic advising, the CH2M STEM tutoring Center, and the Writing Center. Tutoring and writing consultant services are available free of charge to all WSU TriCities students. Walk-ins are welcome. Safety and Emergency Notification: Classroom and campus safety are of paramount importance at Washington State University, and are the shared responsibility of the entire campus population. WSU urges students to follow the “Alert, Assess, Act,” protocol for all types of emergencies. Remain ALERT (through direct observation or emergency notification), ASSESS your specific situation, and ACT in the most appropriate way to assure your own safety (and the safety of others if you are able). 3-minute overview of Basic Emergency Procedures for the campus in video athttps://youtu.be/WClaZzSvao4. 

9. Emergency alerts Please sign up for emergency alerts (including campus closures in the case of severe weather) on your account at myWSU. Click Update Now! under “Tri-Cities Emergency Info” to register for notification by text message, email, telephone, or any combination of the three. Providing multiple contact methods will help ensure you receive notifications in a timely manner, and your information will NOT be used for any other purpose.

10. Emergency Evacuations: Make sure that you are aware of evacuation procedures and assembly areas in case of a building evacuation. When the alarm sounds, everyone must leave the building and assemble in designated areas. Try to stay together. Your instructor will be the last one to exit the room, close the door, and direct you to the assembly area. If any student is unable to evacuate, please notify immediately the evacuation coordinator (who should be wearing a green vest) so that the issue can be addressed. For this class, assemble atthe blue emergency pole located directly south of the BSEL sidewalk, parking row 6. Each classroom has an evacuation map next to the door. Be sure you are familiar with it.

11. Financial Aid Deadlines: Applications open October 1st. Financial aid deadline for current students is November 30th.

13. Background and Introduction In 1930s A.Turing studied abstract machines (Turing machine) with properties like modern computers. His objective was to discover what computers could and could not do. This subject now called “deciability” If problem can be solved by computer, it is “decidable” 13

14. More Background In 40s and 50s, simple machines called “finite automata” were studied as models of brain function. Although not a good brain models, they turned out to be useful for other reasons. In 1950s, N. Chomsky introduced the concept of “grammars” that are closely related to finite automata. Context-free grammars are recursively defined. They can be parsed and analyzed by parse trees. Compilers were modeled after context-free grammars 14

15. More Background In 1969 S. Cook extended Turingwork. He devised ways to separate computer problems into those that could be solved efficiently (tractable) from those that took so much time that computers are useless (intractable or NP-hard). 15

16. Why Study Automata? • Finite automata are models for protocols, electronic circuits, etc. • Regular expressions are essential for all types of computing • Context-free grammars are used to describe the syntax of almost every programming language.

17. Automata used in code testing AUTOMATED TEST GENERATION FOR TEMPORAL SPECIFICATIONS by Garima Bansal, Washington State University, May 2017 Abstract “Buchiautomaton has been widely used in the specification and formal verification of linear temporal properties for reactive systems… We present Property Coverage Tester (PCT), an integrated and automated test case generation tool for specification-based testing ... PCT seamlessly integrates test generation algorithms, analysis tools, models, and their generated test cases, into one application…”