Postgraduate Course: Logic and Automata (Level 11) (INFR11051)
Course Outline
School |
School of Informatics |
College |
College of Science and Engineering |
Course type |
Standard |
Availability |
Available to all students |
Credit level (Normal year taken) |
SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits |
10 |
Home subject area |
Informatics |
Other subject area |
None |
Course website |
http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/ |
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Course description |
Automata are a natural procedural counterpart of declarative, or logical formalisms that appear in various areas of computer science. The most visible applications of the logic/automata connections are in the areas of formal verification, XML, and decidability of logical theories. In verification, automata are used to reason about infinite computations; in XML, they are used to
specify and transform tree-structured documents.
While all computer scientists see finite-state automata over strings, it is other types of automata that are commonly used in applications nowadays: they differ in structures over which they run (strings or trees, finite or infinite), and the mode of running (deterministic,
nondeterministic, alternating).
The course is about these models of automata, their logical
counterparts, and applications of the logic/automata connections in various areas of computer science. |
Entry Requirements
Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites |
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Prohibited Combinations |
Students MUST NOT also be taking
Logic and Automata (Level 10) (INFR10030)
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Other requirements |
For Informatics PG and final year MInf students only, or by special permission of the School. Informatics 2D is strongly recommended.
Students should understand the following topics:
Computation: the definition as acceptor and transducer, deterministic/non deterministic machines, regular expressions, operations on FSMs
Propositional and predicate logic
Context-free languages and Push-down automata
Turing machines and computability
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Additional Costs |
None |
Course Delivery Information
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Delivery period: 2010/11 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)
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WebCT enabled: No |
Quota: None |
Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Central | Lecture | | 1-11 | | | 11:10 - 13:00 | | |
First Class |
Week 1, Wednesday, 11:10 - 13:00, Zone: Central. Room 2.04, Appleton Tower |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
1 - Students will be able to identify different models of
automata, in particular, automata on finite trees, infinite strings, infinite trees, as well as different running modes of automata: deterministic, nondeterministic, alternating.
2 - Students will be able to translate logical specifications into automata;
3 - Students will know how to solve decision problems for
different types of automata and their complexity.
4 - Students will know how to use logical formalisms and automata in specifying software and hardware properties, and how to use automata decision problems for solving verification problems.
5 - Students will know how logical and automata formalisms
influence the design of XML schemas and query languages.
6 - Students will learn how automata provide algorithms for
deciding logical theories, and how these decision procedures are used in practice. |
Assessment Information
Written Examination 0
Assessed Assignments 75
Oral Presentations 25
Three sets of exercises, worth 5% each.
Two assignments, worth 30% each. |
Please see Visiting Student Prospectus website for Visiting Student Assessment information |
Special Arrangements
Not entered |
Contacts
Course organiser |
Dr Michael Rovatsos
Tel: (0131 6)51 3263
Email: mrovatso@inf.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary |
Miss Kate Weston
Tel: (0131 6)50 2701
Email: Kate.Weston@ed.ac.uk |
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copyright 2010 The University of Edinburgh -
1 September 2010 6:11 am
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