Theory of Computation (CS 2210)
Spring 2019

Tentative Class Schedule | Department's Collaboration Policy

Basic Information

Meetings: Mon & Wed, 10:05 - 11:30 pm, Searles 223

Prerequisites: Data Structures (CS 2101).

Textbook: E. Rich, Automata, Computability, and Complexity: Theory and Applications, Prentice-Hall, 2008.

Course Materials: The course homepage is http://www.bowdoin.edu/~smajerci/teaching/cs2210/2019spring/index.html and will contain all class-related material, including a tentative class schedule. I will not be using BlackBoard.

Office Hours and TA Hours

My office hours are Monday, 6:00-8:00 pm in Searles 224, and Tuesday, 1:00-2:30 pm in Searles 222. I am also available after class (within reason!) and by appointment.

We have two TAs (hours TBA):

Anjulee Bhalla
Ryan St. Pierre

All TA hours are held in Searles 224.

Homework, Exams, and Grading

Problem Sets: Problems will generally be assigned on Monday and Wednesday and due (all of them) the following Wednesday. Late assignments may not be accepted, at my discretion, unless I have received an email from your Dean describing mitigating circumstances.

Quizzes: There will be five quizzes.

Exams: There will be two in-class exams:

Exam 1: Wednesday, March 6, 10:05 - 11:30 pm
Exam 2: Wednesday, May 15, 8:30 - 11:30 pm

The exams are closed book and closed notes, except for one 8.5 x 11 page of notes (both sides).

Grading policy: The final grade is determined as follows:

Problem Sets (25%)
5 Quizes (15%)
2 Exams (60%)
Class Participation (tiebreaker)

About This Course

Course Overview

The objective of the course is to look at what can be computed and how. We will look at the nature of computation and the principles that determine what computational capabilities are required to solve particular classes of problems. We will start with a very simple, restricted computational model and see what happens as we relax some of these restrictions. We will work our way up to Turing machines, which, in spite of their simplicity, are equivalent to the most powerful modern computer. We will also look at the limits of computability and the complexity of computation. At the end of the course you should have a strong theoretical understanding of what is possible with a computer.

How to Succeed

Allow plenty of time to read the materials and work on the problem sets each week.
Go to the study groups and talk to the TA; listen to your peers' questions and get your questions answered.
Find a group of peers to work with. Explain your ideas to your peers, and listen to their ideas. Try to argue why a solution is correct, or prove it wrong by finding an instance where it does not work (a counter-example). Take turns.

Homework Collaboration Policy and Academic Integrity

You are expected to be familiar with and to comply with the department's collaboration policy.

Collaboration and discussion are crucial for this class. You are encouraged to work on problems in a group and you will most likely find that you will gain a better understanding of the material by discussing the problems with your partners. Note that, if you do collaborate, you need to list the names of the collaborators on the front page of the homework.

However, our goal is to ensure that the collaboration is appropriate and effective, and that you become an independent problem solver capable of working on your own. The department's collaboration policy defines four levels of collaboration. Specifically, for this class:

All in-class work, unless otherwise specified, is at Collaboration Level 0: No restrictions.
The homework assignments, unless otherwise specified, will be at Collaboration Level 1: Verbal collaboration without solution sharing. You are allowed and encouraged to discuss ideas with other class members, but the communication should be exclusively verbal, with one exception. You are allowed to draw diagrams (but not pseudocode) on a whiteboard (or blackboard) for the purpose of clarifying an idea being discussed. However, you are not allowed to take notes during the discussion or copy/photograph anything on the board; being able to recreate the solution later from memory ensures that you actually understood it. To emphasize, communication cannot include sharing pseudocode or diagrams for the problem.
Exams and quizes will be at Collaboration Level 3: Professor clarifications only.

While peer instruction can be immensely useful, it can also be harmful. Once you have found a solution, resist giving hints to your peers or leading them towards the answer. You are not helping them by doing so. Direct them towards the TAs who are trained to give help.

Remember that you are responsible for reading, understanding, and adhering to the department collaboration policy. If you have any questions about any aspects of the policy, please do not hesitate to ask for clarification.

Theory of Computation (CS 2210) Spring 2019