Theory of Computation by Frank Stephan
Frank Stephan's 
detailed lecture notes on the theory of computation cover quite a wide spectrum 
of issues. The document starts with the basics of sets and regular expressions, 
then goes ahead to grammars and the Chomsky hierarchy, helping one in 
understanding the structure of languages. Then it discusses finite automaton and 
nondeterministic finite automata, giving all details about the processing of 
strings by these models. The notes also treat the composition of languages, 
normal forms, and algorithms used in computation. Membership testing, whether 
deterministic or nondeterministic, is also explained, together with the proof of 
how models of computation handle language recognition. Finally, the approach is 
important when considering complexity, the problems that turn out undecidable, 
showing thus the intrinsic limits of computation. This is an important resource 
concerning formal languages, automata theory, and basic bounds of 
computability.
Author(s): Frank Stephan
 176 Pages
176 Pages