Ebook: Introduction to Languages, Machines and Logic: Computable Languages, Abstract Machines and Formal Logic

1.1 Overview This chapter briefly describes: • what this book is about • what this book tries to do • what this book tries not to do • a useful feature of the book: the exercises. 1.2 What This Book Is About This book is about three key topics of computer science, namely computable lan­ guages, abstract machines, and logic. Computable languages are related to what are usually known as "formal lan­ guages". I avoid using the latter phrase here because later on in the book I distin­ guish between formal languages and computable languages. In fact, computable languages are a special type of formal languages that can be processed, in ways considered in this book, by computers, or rather abstract machines that represent computers. Abstract machines are formal computing devices that we use to investigate prop­ erties of real computing devices. The term that is sometimes used to describe abstract machines is automata, but that sounds too much like real machines, in particular the type of machines we call robots. The logic part of the book considers using different types of formal logic to represent things and reason about them. The logics we consider all play a very important role in computing. They are Boolean logic, propositional logic, and first order predicate logic (FOPL).

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This book provides an accessible introduction to the most important features of formal languages and automata theory - core topics on computer science degree schemes worldwide. It focuses on the key concepts, illustrating potentially intimidating material through diagrams and pictorial representations, and this edition will include new and expanded coverage of topics such as: reduction and simplification of material on Turing machines; complexity and O notation; propositional logic and first order predicate logic. Aimed primarily at computer scientists rather than mathematicians, algorithms and proofs are presented informally through examples, and there are numerous exercises (many with solutions) and an extensive glossary. This book will be invaluable to students of computer science but it will also prove essential reading to all practitioners needing to know about formal methods.

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This book provides an accessible introduction to the most important features of formal languages and automata theory - core topics on computer science degree schemes worldwide. It focuses on the key concepts, illustrating potentially intimidating material through diagrams and pictorial representations, and this edition will include new and expanded coverage of topics such as: reduction and simplification of material on Turing machines; complexity and O notation; propositional logic and first order predicate logic. Aimed primarily at computer scientists rather than mathematicians, algorithms and proofs are presented informally through examples, and there are numerous exercises (many with solutions) and an extensive glossary. This book will be invaluable to students of computer science but it will also prove essential reading to all practitioners needing to know about formal methods.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Introduction....Pages 1-7
Front Matter....Pages 9-9
Elements of Formal Languages....Pages 11-36
Syntax, Semantics, and Ambiguity....Pages 37-47
Regular Languages and Finite State Recognisers....Pages 49-79
Context Free Languages and Pushdown Recognisers....Pages 81-106
Important Features of Regular and Context Free Languages....Pages 107-131
Phrase Structure Languages and Turing Machines....Pages 133-159
Front Matter....Pages 161-161
Finite State Transducers....Pages 163-178
Turing Machines as Computers....Pages 179-201
Turing’s Thesis and the Universality of the Turing Machine....Pages 203-229
Computability, Solvability, and the Halting Problem....Pages 231-248
Dimensions of Computation....Pages 249-272
Front Matter....Pages 273-273
Boolean Logic and Propositional Logic....Pages 275-290
First Order Predicate Logic....Pages 291-306
Logic and Computation....Pages 307-326
Back Matter....Pages 327-351

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This book provides an accessible introduction to the most important features of formal languages and automata theory - core topics on computer science degree schemes worldwide. It focuses on the key concepts, illustrating potentially intimidating material through diagrams and pictorial representations, and this edition will include new and expanded coverage of topics such as: reduction and simplification of material on Turing machines; complexity and O notation; propositional logic and first order predicate logic. Aimed primarily at computer scientists rather than mathematicians, algorithms and proofs are presented informally through examples, and there are numerous exercises (many with solutions) and an extensive glossary. This book will be invaluable to students of computer science but it will also prove essential reading to all practitioners needing to know about formal methods.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Introduction....Pages 1-7
Front Matter....Pages 9-9
Elements of Formal Languages....Pages 11-36
Syntax, Semantics, and Ambiguity....Pages 37-47
Regular Languages and Finite State Recognisers....Pages 49-79
Context Free Languages and Pushdown Recognisers....Pages 81-106
Important Features of Regular and Context Free Languages....Pages 107-131
Phrase Structure Languages and Turing Machines....Pages 133-159
Front Matter....Pages 161-161
Finite State Transducers....Pages 163-178
Turing Machines as Computers....Pages 179-201
Turing’s Thesis and the Universality of the Turing Machine....Pages 203-229
Computability, Solvability, and the Halting Problem....Pages 231-248
Dimensions of Computation....Pages 249-272
Front Matter....Pages 273-273
Boolean Logic and Propositional Logic....Pages 275-290
First Order Predicate Logic....Pages 291-306
Logic and Computation....Pages 307-326
Back Matter....Pages 327-351
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