Theoretical Computer Science - Bridging Course
Graduate Course - Summer Term 2022
Fabian Kuhn
Course Description
The aim of the course is to provide basic knowledge of theoretical computer science to computer science M.Sc. students who do not yet have this necessary background (e.g., because of a different major during their undergraduate studies). The course introduces the (mathematical) foundations of theoretical computer science. We will see what can be computed and how efficiently, as well as what cannot. More specifically, the following topics will be included:
- Automata
- Formal languages
- Formal grammars
- Turing machines
- Decidability
- Complexity theory
- Logic
Course Format
The course is based on existing recordings provided by Diego Tipaldi combined with weekly interactive exercise lessons. This will prepare the participants for the final exam.
Schedule
In conjunction with the the recorded lecture we offer weekly exercise lessons. The exercise lessons will in principle take place hybrid every Tuesday at 12:15 - 14:00 in building 051 room 00-031 and via the video conference system Zoom. The link on how to access the Zoom meetings is available in the data access section below.
Announcement
There will be an introductory session in the first week of the semester on Tuesday, 26.04.2022 at 12:15 in building 051 room 00-031. Alternatively we will enable participation via Zoom. The link on how to access the Zoom meeting is available in the data access section below.
Final Exam
Type of exam : oral
Date : Friday 26.08.2022
Time: Each Student will be assigned a time slot. You can check your time slot on HisInOnE.
Duration: Approx. 30 minutes.
Place: In the 1st floor seminar room of building 106.
Data Access
Zoom: The link on how to access the weekly Zoom meetings is available here.
Zulip
: An instant messaging platform (Zulip) is offered for all students to discuss any issues related to the course whether among themselves or with the tutor. To join Zulip, click on the invitation link which is also given here.Important note: The link on how to access Zoom or join Zulip can only be accessed from within the university network (i.e., use VPN to access the page from home or access the internet via the university eduroam).
Course Material
The course is based on existing recordings provided by Diego Tipaldi
| Topic | Slides | Recordings | Watch for |
| Introduction | n/a | ||
| Mathematical Preliminaries | MP4 (44:30) | Exercise 1 | |
| DFA, NFA, Regular Languages | MP4 (1:14:04) | Exercise 2 | |
| Closure of Regular Languages | |||
| Regular expressions | MP4 (1:37:55) | ||
| Non-regular languages | MP4 (22:12) | ||
| Context Free Grammars I | MP4 (1:34:09) | ||
| Context Free Grammars II | MP4 (42:00) | ||
| Pushdown Automata | MP4 (1:11:18) | ||
| Pumping Lemma for Context Free Grammars | MP4 (1:29:51) | ||
| Turing Machines I | MP4 (52:31) | ||
| Turing Machines II | MP4 (1:23:03) | ||
| Decidability and decidable languages | MP4 (52:54) | ||
| Decidability, Cardinality, Cantor's diagonal argument | MP4 (1:15:40) | ||
| Decidability and the Halting Problems | MP4 (12:50) | ||
| Complexity I | MP4 (1:28:51) | ||
| Complexity II | MP4 (1:34:27) | ||
| Complexity III | MP4 (1:28:08) | ||
| Propositional Logic and basic definitions, CNF/DNF, logical entailment. | MP4 (37:11) | ||
| Propositional Logic, Deduction/Contraposition/Contradiction Theorems | MP4 (1:00:14) | ||
| Propositional Logic, Derivations, Soundness and Completeness of calculi | MP4 (53:16) | ||
| Propositional Logic, Refutation-completeness and Resolution | MP4 (04:16) | ||
| First Order Logic, Derivations | MP4 (46:47) | ||
| First Order Logic, Satisfaction, Closed Formulae, Overview on Normal Forms | MP4 (1:39:04) |