Who, when, where and what
The instructor for CSCI 434 is J Dean Brock. The course meets on Tuesday and Thursday from 3:15 PM to 4:55 PM in RRO 217.
Class home page
All class handouts, including assignments, can be accessed through the following URL:
Catalog Course Description
Theory of Computation
A study of formal models of computation, grammars and languages, including finite state machines, regular expressions and Turing machines. Prerequisites: a grade of C or higher in CSCI 202; MATH 251.
Degree requirements fulfilled
- CSCI 434 is a required course in the Computer Systems concentration of the Computer Science major.
- CSCI 434 will fulfill three credit hours of the “6 additional hours in CSCI at the 300 level and above” required in the Information System concentration of the Computer Science major.
- And, of course, every student can use CSCI 434 to fulfill three credit hours of the 122 required for graduation.
Student Learning objectives
- Students will analyze problems, and identify and define the computing requirements appropriate to their solutions.
- Students will systematically evaluate various possible solutions.
- Students will reason about and explain computer-based solutions at multiple levels of abstraction.
Lecture notes
If you see any nicely formatted lecture notes in this course, they were produced by our own Adam Whitley. Thank him for allowing me to use his work!
Textbook
The required textbook for the course is Introduction to the Theory of Computation [Cengage] 3rd edition, (ISBN-13: 978-1133187790) written by Michael Sipser. We will cover a subset of Chapters 0 to 5 and 7 of the textbook during this course.
Useful applications
We will quickly examine a few text-processing programs such as grep, awk, bison to illustrate course concepts. If you are using macOS, these programs are available via the Terminal application. If you are using Windows 10, you can install the Windows Subsystem for Linux to get these programs.
There will also be assignments using
Java’s
regex class and/or Python’s re library. You must already have these
on your computer.
Grades
Weights
The following weights are used in computing the course grade.
| Grade component | Weight |
|---|---|
| Three in-class exams | 45% |
| Final exam | 30% |
| Homework | 25% |
Scale
The following numerical scale will be used in assigning grades based on Score, the score computed using the weights described above.
| Score ≥ 93 | A |
| Score ≥ 90 & Score < 93 | A- |
| Score ≥ 87 & Score < 90 | B+ |
| Score ≥ 83 & Score < 87 | B |
| Score ≥ 80 & Score < 83 | B- |
| Score ≥ 77 & Score < 80 | C+ |
| Score ≥ 73 & Score < 77 | C |
| Score ≥ 70 & Score < 73 | C- |
| Score ≥ 67 & Score < 70 | D+ |
| Score ≥ 60 & Score < 67 | D |
| Score < 60 | F |
Exams
Three equally-weighted in-class exams will be given during the semester along with one final exam. All exams will have a closed-book section. Some may also have an open-book section.
Exam attendance
UNC Asheville’s Academic Policies and Procedures do provide excused absences for “travel on university-sanctioned business” and “up to two excused absences per semester for religious observances” when seven days notice is given. The seven day notice will allow the instructor to reschedule exams to avoid excused absenses. For this reason, attendance at all exams is mandatory. If an in-class exam is missed due to a documented reason, the final exam will be use to provide a replacement for the missed exam.
Homework
Roughly once per week there will be a homework assignment. Some of these will be two-week programming assignments. The homeworks and their due dates will be listed on moodle.
Late homework submissions must be downloaded to moodle. A penalty of 1% per hour, rounded up to the next hour, will be applied to late homework.
Unless explicitly stated in the description of a homework assignment, a submitted assignment must be the result of the student’s individual effort. If this is not done, no credit will be given for the homework and, as required by university policy, a report will be made to the Assistant Provost for Academic Administration.
Classroom expectations
The classroom is a place where students and faculty behave professionally. We are polite and attentive. We avoid talk of politics and religion. We do not use offensive language. We show up on time.
Electronics in the classroom
You are welcome to use your electronic devices to take notes. However, you should read the article Why students using laptops learn less in class even when they really are taking notes from the Washington Post before you give up on handwritten notes.
Electronic devices should not be used for gaming and social media during class. This distracts others in the class.
Sometimes you may need to discretely respond to a TXT message received during class. In these cases, it usually is best to leave the room.
Academic misconduct
It is never proper to claim another’s work as your own in graded work.
Unless explicitly stated in the description of an assignment, a submitted assignment must be the result of your individual effort. This is similar to the expectations of the professional workplace.
Impermissible actions
There are several impermissible actions that will result in the imposition of course or university sanctions. Impermissible actions in homework assignments include the following:
- Copying any portion of another student’s work by any method.
- Allowing another student to copy or view your work by any method.
- Copying program source from the web unless the program source is provided by the course instructor.
Impermissible actions on exams include the following:
- Use of any unauthorized devices or sources of information.
- Giving and receiving information to another student by any method.
- Using cell phones during exams.
Course sanctions for impermissible actions
For assignments, the first offense will result in a grade of 0 for the assignment and the second offense will result in a grade of F for the course. For exams, any offense will result in a grade of F for the course. These are the expected sanctions for courses at UNC Asheville.
University policy on academic misconduct
The UNC Asheville Student Handbook has a section devoted to Academic Misconduct. It states the following:
A student accused of academic dishonesty should talk with his or her instructor. In all situations where a student has been disciplined for plagiarism or cheating, the instructor is to submit to the VCAA a brief statement of the case; the student is to receive a copy of this document. Depending upon the severity and/or repetition of the offense, the VCAA may choose to impose a penalty of cancellation of graduation with honors; cancellation of scholarships; dismissal from the university; or any other penalty which he or she deems logical and deserved. A student has 10 class days to respond to this document, in writing; this response is to be sent to the VCAA for attachment to the document submitted by the instructor.
In practice, students who have been involved in academic misconduct in three courses will be suspended for a semester. However a single significant offense, such as the submission of a plagiarized paper in entirety, can result in immediate dismissal.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Statement from the Office of Academic Accessibility
University of North Carolina at Asheville is committed to making courses, programs and activities accessible to persons with documented disabilities. Students requesting accommodations and/or academic adjustments must do so through the Office of Academic Accessibility and may be required to provide supporting documentation. All information provided will remain confidential. For more information please contact the Office of Academic Accessibility at (828)232-5050 or academicaccess@unca.edu, visit them in the OneStop Student Services Center or at their website https://oaa.unca.edu/ .
Specific clarifications for CSCI 434
Students who have been approved for extended time for exams by the Office of Academic Accessibility must have their exams administered by the Office of Academic Accessibility and must take their exams at a time overlapping the scheduled in-class exam.
Email communications
Information protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act should only be sent to official university email addresses. Information related to recorded grades is clearly protected, as is any discussion that would allow a reader to draw conclusions about your performance or attendance in class.
Email sent to me, even if it does not involve the use of state-maintained computers, may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and, as such, may be disclosed to third parties.
For more information and help
The best way to get in touch with me quickly is to send email to brock@unca.edu. I get lots of email, so please include CSCI 434 in the subject line.
I have office hours are 2:00 to 3:00 on Tuesday and Thursday. My office is RRO 221A. /p>