Theory of Automata (Cs-2208) : Lecture# 01

THEORY OF AUTOMATA(CS-2208)
LECTURE# 01
INTRODUCTION
Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 1

Overview
 Introduction to Course
 Formal and informal languages
 Alphabets, Strings, and Words
 Valid and invalid alphabets
 String length
 Reverse of string

What is Automata?
• The term Automata came from Greek the

word αὐτόματα which means “self
controlled”.
• Automata is plural of automaton, that
means “automation or something that works
automatically”.
• Examples: computer, ATM, and any
machine that has automatic mechanism is
an automata.
• Computers and all its programing
languages are based on this mechanism.

Objectives of Theory of
Automata
• Theory of automata is an area of computer science
that deals with abstract machines
(mathematical/theoretical models) and computational
problems.
• This course allows us to think systematic about what

machine does without going into H/W details.
• Learning of computational languages
• Building theoretical models of machines

Course Contents
• Finite State Models:
• Language definitions preliminaries,
• Regular expressions/Regular languages,
• Finite automata (FAs),
• Transition graphs (TGs),
• NFAs, Kleene’s theorem,
• Transducers (automata with output),
• Pumping lemma and non-regular language Grammars and PDA:
CFGs,
• Derivations, derivation trees and ambiguity,
• Simplifying CFLs,
• Normal form grammars and parsing,
• Chomsky’s hierarchy of grammars
• Turing Machines Theory

Book
• Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A.

Cohen, 2nd Edition

Grading Policy
• Assignments 10 %
• Quizzes 10 %
• Mid-Term 30 %
• Terminal 50%

Introduction to Languages
• There are two types of languages

− Formal Languages (Syntactic
languages)
− Informal Languages (Semantic
languages)

Alphabets
• Definition:
• A finite non-empty set of symbols (letters), is called an
alphabet. It is denoted by Σ ( Greek letter sigma).
• Σ contains symbol/character out of which we are going
to build a language for any machine. Set of letters are
called alphabets
• Example:
Σ={a,b}
Σ={0,1} important as this is the language which the
computer understands.
Σ={i,j,k}

Strings
• Definition:
Concatenation of finite symbols from the
alphabet is called a string.
• Example:
If Σ= {a,b} then
a, abab, aaabb, ababababababababab are
various strings of the language defined over
alphet {a,b}

Empty String or NULL String
 Sometimes a string with no symbol at all is
used, denoted by (Small Greek letter Lambda)
λ or (Capital Greek letter Lambda) Λ, is called
an empty string or null string.
 The capital lambda will mostly be used to

denote the empty string, in further discussion.

Words
• Definition:
Words are strings belonging to some language.
Example:
If Σ= {x} then a language L can be defined as
L={xn : n=1,2,3,…..} or L={x,xx,xxx,xxxx,….}
Here x,xx,xxx,… are the words of L
Note: All words are strings, but not all strings are
words.

Valid/In-valid alphabets
• While defining an alphabet, an alphabet may

contain letters consisting of group of symbols
for example
− Σ1= {B, aB, bab, d}.

Valid/In-valid alphabets Cont.
• Now consider an alphabet
Σ2= {B, Ba, bab, d} and a string BababB.
• As when this string is scanned by the compiler

(Lexical Analyzer),
• First symbol B is identified as a letter belonging to Σ,
• while for the second letter the lexical analyzer would
not be able to identify,
• So while defining an alphabet it should be kept in
mind that ambiguity should not be created.
Valid/In-valid alphabets Cont.
This string can be tokenized in two different

ways
 (Ba), (bab), (B)
 (B), (abab), (B)
Which shows that the second group cannot
be identified as a string, defined over
Σ = {B, Ba, bab, d}

Remarks:
• While defining an alphabet of letters

consisting of more than one symbols, no
letter should be started with the letter of
the same alphabet i.e. one letter should
not be the prefix of another.
• However, a letter may be ended in the
letter of same alphabet i.e. one letter may
be the suffix of another.

Conclusion
• Σ1= {B, aB, bab, d}
• Σ2= {B, Ba, bab, d}
Σ1 is a valid alphabet while Σ2 is an in-valid

alphabet.

Length of Strings
• Definition:
The length of string s, denoted by |s|, is
the number of letters in the string.
• Example:
Σ={a,b}
s=ababa
|s|=5

Length of Strings Cont.
• Example:
Σ= {B, aB, bab, d}
s=BaBbabBd
Tokenizing = (B), (aB), (bab), (B),(d)
|s|=5

Reverse of a String
• Definition:
The reverse of a string s denoted by
Rev(s) or sr, is obtained by writing the
letters of s in reverse order.
• Example:
If s=abc is a string defined over Σ={a,b,c}
then Rev(s) or sr = cba

Reverse of a String
• Example:
Σ= {B, aB, bab, d}
s= BaBbabBd
Rev(s) = dBbabaBB

Theory of Automata (Cs-2208) : Lecture# 01

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Theory of Automata (Cs-2208) : Lecture# 01

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THEORY OF AUTOMATA(CS-2208)

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 1

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 2

• The term Automata came from Greek the

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 3

• This course allows us to think systematic about what

• Learning of computational languages

• Building theoretical models of machines

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 4

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 5

• Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A.

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 6

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 7

• There are two types of languages

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 8

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 9

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 10

 The capital lambda will mostly be used to

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 11

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 12

• While defining an alphabet, an alphabet may

− Σ1= {B, aB, bab, d}.

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 13

Σ2= {B, Ba, bab, d} and a string BababB.

• As when this string is scanned by the compiler

This string can be tokenized in two different

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 15

• While defining an alphabet of letters

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 16

Σ1 is a valid alphabet while Σ2 is an in-valid

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 17

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 18

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 19

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 20

Introduction to computer theory, Daniel I. A. Cohen, 2nd Edition 21

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