/CSC-320

Foundations of Computer Science

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CSC 320: Foundations of Computer Science

Course Overview

A survey of formal models and results that form the theoretical foundations of computer science; typical topics include finite automata, Turing machines, undecidable problems, context free languages and computational complexity.

Topics

  • Formal definitions of computation, languages and computability
  • Models of Computation: finite state automata, pushdown automata, grammars and Turing machines; deterministic and non-deterministic machines
  • The Halting Problem, reductions, and NP-completeness
  • Dealing with intractability (if time permits)