An Introduction To Formal Languages And Automata 3rd Edition

An Introduction to Formal Languages and Automata is a textbook that teaches the students about the concepts, rules, and the construction of a formal language.

Summary Of The Book

A formal language is defined as a set of symbols, governed by specific rules of a language. Formal language is a subject of study for the students of Linguistics, Computer Science, and Mathematics. Like any other language, Formal Language too has its alphabet, words, and grammar. The strings of its alphabet are a finite set of tokens, letters, and symbols. These strings are called words, or well formed formulas. The grammar that governs a formal language is called context free grammar, or regular grammar. The study of formal language theory focuses on understanding the syntax and the pattern that constructs such languages.

In this book An Introduction to Formal Languages and Automata, Peter Linz beautifully presents all the important concepts for an introduction to the theories of formal language and automata. This book is written in candid English, with least usage of mathematical expressions to make the students understand the concepts easily, without making them frustrated with too much of technical detail.

This book starts with an introduction to the theory of computation. It then presents some of the key concepts of formal language and automata, like, finite automata, pushdown automata, context free languages, regular languages, normal forms, algorithmic computation, and turing machines. All the concepts are categorized properly under different chapters. As an added advantage, the author has also provided exercises at the end of every chapter to emphasize on the important theories and concepts that are being presented, and also to help the student gauge his or her understanding of those concepts of formal language and automata. At the end of the book, a list of answers of all the questions is provided for efficient learning of the students.

About Peter Linz

Peter Linz is a scholar, in the field of designing problem solving standards for computation.

Peter Linz has authored and co authored many books in the field of finite language and automata. Some of his works are, Theoretical Numerical Analysis: An Introduction to Advanced Techniques, Exploring Numerical Methods: An Introduction to Scientific Computing Using MATLAB, Analytical and Numerical Methods for Volterra Equations, and JFLAP Activities for Formal Languages and Automata.

Peter Linz was awarded a PhD Degree from the University of Wisconsin, in the year 1968. He is now working as an emeritus professor. His area of interest is the study and designing of mathematical and logical methods, and formulating problem solving mechanisms for computing.