Fundamentals of Computer Science

Course Content:

1. Syntax (formal languages):

   1.1. Regular languages and finite automata: equivalence, (non)determinism, optimization.
   1.2. Context free grammars: definitions and general properties (e.g. normalforms), pushdown automata.
   1.3. Introduction to parsing. 

2. Computability: Solvable and unsolvable problems, Theorem of Church, Turing Machines.
3. Introduction to logic and basic theorem proving

The corresponding competences:

The objective of this course is to acquaint students in Apllied Computer Science with the formal background of their discipline.

• Knowledge and Insight:
• The student knows the Chomsky hierarchy of formal languages, and has insight in the generative power of the different classes and their corresponding automata.
• The student has gained insight into what problems can be can be solved and computed w.o.w. which problems belong to the class of (semi-)decidable or (semi-)computable problems.
• The student has sufficient knowledge about logic in order to be able to learn other types of logic.
• The use of Knowledge and Insight:
• The student can specify a grammar or an automaton of the appropriate class given an description of a previously unseen language.
• The students knows the basics of logic, more in particular proposition logic and predicate logic, so that they are able to use this knowledge to formulate and solve problems.
• Communication:
  The student can present the content of their final project to the other students and communicate his ideas on the solutions.
• Skills:
• The course contributes to development of the skills necessary to solve mathematically formulated problems.
  The majority of students in this program have a technological background and lack grounding in the fundamentals of computer science.

All detailed and official information about the course here >