Automata Theory And Formal Languages

Knowledge of automata theory and formal languages is crucial for understanding human-computer interaction, as well as for understanding the various processes that take place when manipulating knowledge if that knowledge is, indeed, expressed as sentences written in a suitably formalized language. In particular, it is at the basis of the theory of parsing, which plays an important role in language translation, compiler construction, and knowledge manipulation in general. Presenting basic notions and fundamental results, this concise textbook is structured on the basis of a correspondence that exists between classes of automata and classes of languages. That correspondence is established by the fact that the recognition and the manipulation of sentences in a given class of languages can be done by an automaton in the corresponding class of automata. Four central chapters center on: finite automata and regular languages; pushdown automata and context-free languages; linear bounded automata and context-sensitive languages; and Turing machines and type 0 languages. The book also examines decidable and undecidable problems with emphasis on the case for context-free languages. Topics and features: Provides theorems, examples, and exercises to clarify automata-languages correspondences Presents some fundamental techniques for parsing both regular and context-free languages Classifies subclasses of decidable problems, avoiding focus on the theory of complexity Examines finite-automata minimalization and characterization of their behavior using regular expressions Illustrates how to derive grammars of context-free languages in Chomsky and Greibach normal forms Offers supplementary material on counter machines, stack automata, and abstract language families This highly useful, varied text/reference is suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses on automata theory and formal languages, and assumes no prior exposure to these topics nor any training in mathematics or logic. Alberto Pettorossi is professor of theoretical computer science at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.

The book is a concise, self-contained and fully updated introduction to automata theory – a fundamental topic of computer sciences and engineering. The material is presented in a rigorous yet convincing way and is supplied with a wealth of examples, exercises and down-to-the earth convincing explanatory notes. An ideal text to a spectrum of one-term courses in computer sciences, both at the senior undergraduate and graduate students.

An Introduction to Formal Languages & Automata provides an excellent presentation of the material that is essential to an introductory theory of computation course. The text was designed to familiarize students with the foundations & principles of computer science & to strengthen the students' ability to carry out formal & rigorous mathematical argument. Employing a problem-solving approach, the text provides students insight into the course material by stressing intuitive motivation & illustration of ideas through straightforward explanations & solid mathematical proofs. By emphasizing learning through problem solving, students learn the material primarily through problem-type illustrative examples that show the motivation behind the concepts, as well as their connection to the theorems & definitions.

Expressing everything clearly, concisely and correctly requires a certain degree of formalization. I assume basic knowledge of discrete mathematics, only. In particular, it may be helpful if the reader has a basic understanding of what constitutes a proof of a mathematical assertion. All the remaining material is introduced in the text. Fundamental concepts are exemplified, too. I am strongly convinced that a solid compromise between formal correctness and intuitive ideas may help both the students and instructors to enjoy the wealth of insight this book is aiming to present. Main emphasis is put on the interaction of theory and practice in informatics. Theory must deal with problems of practical importance and practical informatics needs a solid foundation to develop its full potential. Therefore, two thirds of the book are devoted to formal languages and automata theory. Formal languages are indispensable for applied computer science, since one meets them everywhere. Thus, i cover grammars (formalizing the generation), automata (formalizing the acceptance) and their interaction for regular and context-free languages. The remaining third formalizes the intuitive notion of algorithm by introducing partial recursive functions and Turing machines. We show the equivalence of these two models and prove the existence of a universal Turing machine. That is, there is one computing device that can perform every possible computation. Finally, i show that there are problems which cannot be solved at all by any computer. Here i start with the halting problem, continue with Post's correspondence problem, and apply the theory developed to obtain a rather complete picture concerning problems arising naturally in formal language theory. The book contains an in-depth coverage of all the topics related to the theory of computation as mentioned in the syllabuses of B.E., M.C.A. and M.Sc. (Computer Science) of various universities. Sufficient amount of theoretical inputs supported by a number of illustrations are included for those who take deep interest in the subject. In the first few chapters, the book presents the necessary basic material for the study of automata theories. Examples of topics included are: regular languages and Kleene's Theorem; minimal automata and syntactic monoids; the relationship between context-free languages and pushdown automata; and Turing machines and decidability. This book facilitates students a more informal writing style while providing the most accessible coverage of automata theory, solid treatment on constructing proofs, many figures and diagrams to help convey ideas, and sidebars to highlight related material. Each chapter offers an abundance of exercises for hands-on learning.

This text strikes a good balance between rigor and an intuitive approach to computer theory. Covers all the topics needed by computer scientists with a sometimes humorous approach that reviewers found "refreshing". It is easy to read and the coverage of mathematics is fairly simple so readers do not have to worry about proving theorems.

This book is based on notes for a master’s course given at Queen Mary, University of London, in the 1998/9 session. Such courses in London are quite short, and the course consisted essentially of the material in the ?rst three chapters, together with a two-hour lecture on connections with group theory. Chapter 5 is a considerably expanded version of this. For the course, the main sources were the books by Hopcroft and Ullman ([20]), by Cohen ([4]), and by Epstein et al. ([7]). Some use was also made of a later book by Hopcroft and Ullman ([21]). The ulterior motive in the ?rst three chapters is to give a rigorous proof that various notions of recursively enumerable language are equivalent. Three such notions are considered. These are: generated by a type 0 grammar, recognised by a Turing machine (deterministic or not) and de?ned by means of a Godel ̈ numbering, having de?ned “recursively enumerable” for sets of natural numbers. It is hoped that this has been achieved without too many ar- ments using complicated notation. This is a problem with the entire subject, and it is important to understand the idea of the proof, which is often quite simple. Two particular places that are heavy going are the proof at the end of Chapter 1 that a language recognised by a Turing machine is type 0, and the proof in Chapter 2 that a Turing machine computable function is partial recursive.

This classic book on formal languages, automata theory, and computational complexity has been updated to present theoretical concepts in a concise and straightforward manner with the increase of hands-on, practical applications. This new edition comes with Gradiance, an online assessment tool developed for computer science. Please note, Gradiance is no longer available with this book, as we no longer support this product.

This Book Is Aimed At Providing An Introduction To The Basic Models Of Computability To The Undergraduate Students. This Book Is Devoted To Finite Automata And Their Properties. Pushdown Automata Provides A Class Of Models And Enables The Analysis Of Context-Free Languages. Turing Machines Have Been Introduced And The Book Discusses Computability And Decidability. A Number Of Problems With Solutions Have Been Provided For Each Chapter. A Lot Of Exercises Have Been Given With Hints/Answers To Most Of These Tutorial Problems.