CompSci 334, Spring 2021
Mathematical Foundations of CS
Syllabus

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Professor: Susan Rodger

Office: Virtual Office Hours: Mon 9:00am-10:00am, Wed 2:30pm-3:30pm, Thu 5pm-6pm See Zoom link posted on Piazza and Sakai Announcements Email: Phone: 660-6595

Graduate TA: Yalu Cai

Office: Virtual Office Hours: Mon. 5-6:30pm, Tue 5-6:30pm See Zoom link on Piazza and Sakai announcements Email: yc468 AT cs.duke.edu

Course Meeting Time

LECTURE: Tuesdays and Thursdays: 10:15am-11:30am See the zoom link to connect for lectures posted in a Sakai Announcement.

Texts

An Introduction to Formal Languages and Automata, Linz, 6th Edition, 2017. (5th edition is also fine).
JFLAP: An Interactive Formal Languages and Automata Package, Rodger and Finley, 2006. ( free .pdf)

Reading

In general you should read the text in order to be prepared to ask and answer questions in class. If you've looked at material before it's discussed in class you'll get much more out of the class discussion. This is especially true once class has been going for a while.

There will be reading quizes on Sakai due before each class starting with the second class! They must be completed before class starts. You can take them three times up until class time and we use the highest score. You must submit them before class starts or you won't be able to submit them.

Web page

Many of the materials for this course (including this page) are available on http://www.cs.duke.edu/courses/spring21/compsci334/

Bulletin Board

You should regularly read the Piazza bulletin board for this course as it may contain announcements, hints, and information relevant to this class.

Collaboration

Homework and programming assignments should be your own work! You may consult with one or two other students (and as many times as you want with the TA and Prof. Rodger) on homework. Consult means you can discuss the general idea of a homework problem or programming assignment before writing it. Each person should write their own answers/code. For each homework you are expected to include a list of the people with whom you have consulted (including students, TA's, tutors, professors). Finally, you may not consult with the same Compsci 334 students on two consecutive assignments.

Tests must be your own work.

Late Policy on homeworks and computing projects

LATE POLICY on Assignments (homeworks and computing projects): Assignments turned in up to 3 days late are 10% off (Sunday does not count as a late day). Assignments turned in by 1 week are 20% off. They must be turned in within one week late. See Prof. Rodger immediately if you are having difficulty with this.

Grading

classwork/participation	5%
readingquiz	5%
programming projects	20%
homeworks	25%
tests (3)	45%

Grading is done on an absolute, but adjustable scale. This means that there is no curve. Anyone earning 90% or more of the total number of points available will receive a grade in the A range (A+,A,A-), an earning 94% is an A; 80% = B, 70% = C, 60% = D. This scale may go down, but it will not go up.

Since we are in a pandemic, there are three tests during the semester, each worth 15%. There is no final exam.