CS-275: Automata and Formal Language Theory
In the first quarter of 2022 I got a position as the sole teaching assistant for the CS-275 course. The aim of this course is to teach students about the basics of what I see as "European Theoretical Computer Science" (see bottom of page for an explanation).
The curriculum is concerned with a start in formal definitions and formal languages as a tool for new constructions, later moving on into the territory of automata theory basics which complement formal languages. At the tail-end of the curriculum are lectures on computability theory, Turing Machines and their relation to elementary set theory.
As a sole teaching assistant it was my responsibility to host weekly office hours twice per week and handle any individual tutoring requests from students. Because of this I decided to regularly start writing shortform markdown documents explaining concepts that students may have been struggling with, as well as a sheet of practice questions and answers.
Both precompiled PDFs and Pandoc-friendly Markdown files (written in Typora) can be found on my online drive. The password for the folder is academic-soup. Feel free to contact me if something is wrong with the repository.
While writing this document I also realised I'd like to thank my BSc project supervisor and head lecturer of the CS-275 module, Dr. Arno Pauly. I think he's an inspiration for anyone interested in an academic career.
Differences in European and American TCS
From both my experience and comparing various research, North America has a difference stance to theoretical computer science than that of the UK and as a whole, Europe. North America typically focuses more on complexity theory and more practical applicability of theoretical concepts integrated into software engineering practices, while Europe focuses on computability theory and blends computer science more with abstract mathematics.
Sources
I've plundered (🏴) ️the title picture from Unsplash and it was taken by Sincerely Media.