21
$\begingroup$

I'll be teaching a standard undergraduate class on languages and automata next semester, and would prefer to use a legitimate free or low-cost text. Any suggestions?

I love the Sipser text but the latest edition costs $196, which is hard to say with a straight face in the age of free courses.

$\endgroup$

4 Answers 4

12
$\begingroup$

Maheshwari and Smid's Introduction to Theory of Computation is free, with a Creative Commons license. It has some computability and complexity theory as well but seems to be primarily on languages and automata.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Thanks! I will probably use this as the main text, augmented with the Fleck & Har-Peled lecture notes. $\endgroup$ Oct 3, 2012 at 21:51
8
$\begingroup$

Models of Computation — Exploring the Power of Computing by John E. Savage (Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States license).

$\endgroup$
6
$\begingroup$

There are class notes online. For example... http://valis.cs.uiuc.edu/~sariel/teach/notes/373/

$\endgroup$
2
$\begingroup$

I totally recommend the draft of a book Mathematical Foundations of Automata Theory by Jean-Eric Pin. Also, you should check his home page for more automata related stuff. Note however that this books is oriented to semigroup-theory, so it depends on what you want to teach to your students.

$\endgroup$
2
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ That's hardly an introductory text. $\endgroup$ Oct 3, 2012 at 8:19
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, that looks like a fine text, but my target audience doesn't generally have any abstract algebra background. $\endgroup$ Oct 4, 2012 at 0:37

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.