CMPS 260 Theoretical Foundations of Computer Science Spring 2025

Time and Place:  MWF 2:00pm−2:50pm in LSC 091
Instructor:  Dr. R. McCloskey
Office:  LSC 191
Telephone:  941-4221 (office), 941-7774 (CS Dept. office), 941-4250 (fax)
E-mail:  robert.mccloskey@scranton.edu
Office Hours:  See schedule
Course Web Page 
Textbook: An Introduction to Formal Languages and Automata (7th edition), by Peter Linz and Susan Rodger, published by Jones & Bartlett

U of S Academic Code of Honesty

Office of Student Support and Success (OSSS)

Reporting Obligations

Student Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of the course, a student should be able to

• identify the language classes in the Chomsky Hierarchy, know their relative positions within that hierarchy, and know which category of automaton and/or grammar gives rise to each class.
• design finite automata and regular expressions corresponding to informally described regular languages
• convert a given NFA into an equivalent DFA
• convert a given DFA into its equivalent minimal DFA
• convert a regular expression into an equivalent NFA, and vice versa
• design context-free grammars corresponding to informally described context-free languages
• demonstrate an understanding of top-down and bottom-up parsing
• argue that various "extended" Turing machine models are no more powerful than the basic model
• appreciate the concept of undecidability and identify a few classic undecidable problems
• appreciate the concept of NP-Completeness and identify a few classic problems in that class

Exams and quizzes:  Expect two mid-term exams, one in late February and another in mid April. A comprehensive two-hour final exam will be administered sometime during Final Exam Week, which is May 12-16. (Makeup exams will be offered only if circumstances warrant it, such as in the case of an emergency or sudden illness.)

Expect short quizzes (taking about fifteen minutes) to be given from time to time.

Homework assignments: Expect weekly homework assignments, which typically can be completed using pen(cil) and paper. There could be a small number of programming assignments.

Grading: Weights of graded items (approximate):

Item	Approximate Weight
Midterm exams	32%
Quizzes	6%
Final Exam	25%
Homeworks	35%
Class Participation	2%

Mapping from numerical average to letter grade (approximate):

Numeric Range	[94,100+]	[90,94)	[86,90)	[82,86)	[79,82)	[75,79)	[71,75)	[68,71)	[63,68)	[58,63)	[0,58)
Letter Grade	A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D+	D	F