CSE 303: Theory of Computation (Section 01), Spring 2025)

Syllabus

1 Class Meetings

Lectures: MoWe, 2 pm to 3:20 pm in JAVITS 110
Instructor: Omkant Pandey, omkant [at] cs stonybrook edu
- Office hours: MoWe 12:30 pm onwards in NCS 345

Teaching Assistants, office hours, and email contacts:
- Jiahao Zhao: TU 2:20 pm - 3:20 pm jiahzhao
- Fang Wan: TH 9:00 am - 10:00 am fanwan
- Irene Kim: FR 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm seojchang
- Shabnam Jafarzade: FR 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm sjafarzademo
TA office hours are held in the "TA Room" at Old CS 2126.
Office hours are spread over the week, so someone is available each day of the week.
Add @cs.stonybrook.edu to the username listed for each TA above to get their email address.

Announcements: All announcements will be made through Brightspace.

2 Course Description

An introduction to the abstract notions encountered in machine computation. Topics include finite automata, regular expressions, and formal languages, with emphasis on regular and context-free grammars. Questions relating to what can and cannot be done by machines are covered by considering various models of computation, including Turing machines, recursive functions, and universal machines.

3 Course Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the students should have an understanding of different models of computation, their strengths and limitations, as well as why some problems cannot be solved by a computer. The students should have the ability to argue about the the correctness and complexity of a computational algorithm as well as perform reductions between different computational problems.

4 Prerequisites

C or higher: CSE 215/150 or CSE 214/160

5 Textbook

Introduction to the Theory of Computation, 3rd edition, by Michael Sipser

6 Grading

The grading will be based on the following examinations and assignments:

Final Exam: 30%
Midterm Exam: 20%
Homework Assignments: 5 x 10% = 50%. (Best 5 scores out of 6 assignments))

Note the following:

Students will have exactly one week to review their graded answer sheets following the release of scores for each assignment/exam. The scores will be final after this week and no further reviews will be entertained.
Exams are open book and open notes. However, access to electronic notes or resources will NOT be permitted during the exams. No make-up exams or assignments will be provided except when mandated by university regulations.
Homework assignments must be completed in LaTeX, and submitted on time. Students will be responsible for learning LaTeX on their own. Late submissions will not be accepted.
Students must complete their work independently. Offering or accepting solutions from others is an act of plagiarism, which is a serious offense. All parties involved in academically dishonest behavior will be penalized according to the Academic Integrity Policy provided below.

7 Tentative Examination Dates and Times:

Midterm Exam: Wednesday, March 26, 2:00 pm to 3:20 pm, in class.
Final Exam: Friday, May 16, 2:15 pm to 5:00 pm, in class unless announced otherwise. (See official schedule.)

8 Tentative Class Schedule

Week	Lecture Topics	Assignments
1--4	Finite automata, non-determinism, regular languages, pumping lemma. [Chap. 0--1]	HW1 due
5--6	Context-free languages, grammars, pushdown automata [Chap. 2]	HW2 due
7--10	Turing machines, decidability, reductions, computability [Chap. 3--5]	HW3 due + Midterm
11--13	Complexity theory, NP Completeness [Chap. 7]	HW4 and HW5 due
14--15	Selected Advanced Topics [Chap. 6--10]	HW6 due

9 Student Accessibility Support Center Statement

If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact the Student Accessibility Support Center, 128 ECC Building, (631) 632-6748, or via e-mail at: sasc@stonybrook.edu. They will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential.

10 Academic Integrity Statement

Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Faculty is required to report any suspected instances of academic dishonesty to the Academic Judiciary. Faculty in the Health Sciences Center (School of Health Technology & Management, Nursing, Social Welfare, Dental Medicine) and School of Medicine are required to follow their school-specific procedures. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty please refer to the academic judiciary website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/academic_integrity/index.html

11 Critical Incident Management

Stony Brook University expects students to respect the rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of University Community Standards any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, or inhibits students' ability to learn. Faculty in the HSC Schools and the School of Medicine are required to follow their school-specific procedures. Further information about most academic matters can be found in the Undergraduate Bulletin, the Undergraduate Class Schedule, and the Faculty-Employee Handbook.