Computability (2013/14, Master of Science in Computer Science)

Information

This page provides some information about the Computability course.

The syllabus can be found on the Esse3 page.

Notes

Here are my short notes for the course.

These are work in progress, and may be updated at any time until the very end of the course.

• Notes - (last updated on 2013-12-19)

Office Hours (Ricevimento Studenti)

There is no fixed schedule for office hours. Rather:

• For quick questions, you can send me an email.
• For more complex questions, you can ask for an appointment as follows:
  • Send me an email, specifying one or (better) more dates in which you are available.
  • Please do not ask an appointment for the next 0, 1, or 2 days, since that makes it hard to agree on a common date with other students.
  • No more than one appointment each week.
  • Try to form a small group with other students if you think others want to ask questions as well.
  • The office time is shared among all the students.
  • Prepare specific questions in advance. Asking to explain a whole chapter leads to no useful answer.
  • Office hours are not a substitute for classes.

Assignments

Assignments will be given during the course. They are optional, anonymous, and do not affect the final score. Still, students are encouraged to submit their answers, so that they can be discussed during the tutoring activities.

• Assignments

Tutoring

A tutor will be available to help students in their studies. The tutor will mostly assist students in catching up with the course prerequisites.

• 2013-09-25 at 16:00 in room A208
• 2013-10-02 at 16:00 in room A107
• 2013-10-09 at 14:00 in room A214
• Votes are closed: tutoring schedule
• 2013-10-16 at 15:00 in room A218
• 2013-10-21 at 14:00 in room A218
• 2013-10-28 - no tutoring in this week
• 2013-11-04 - no tutoring in this week
• 2013-11-11 - no tutoring in this week
• 2013-11-18 at 15:00 in room A213
• 2013-11-25 at 14:00 in room A218
• 2013-12-02 at 15:00 in room A221
• 2013-12-09 at 14:00 in room A213
• 2013-12-16 at 14:00 in room A213 (2 hours)
• 2014-01-07 at 14:00 in room A218 (2 hours)

Exams

Here you can find some questions from my previous exams. You will also find many questions answered here.

• Written Exams 2008 (with answers)
• Written Exams 2009
• Written Exams 2010 (with answers)
• Written Exams 2011 (with answers)
• Written Exams 2012 (with answers)

Exam Procedures

The final exam is essentially a closed book written test. I strongly suggest you check the detailed exam procedure below.

• Exam rules

Exam Dates

Remember to register to the exam sessions on Esse3. Failure to do so results in the impossibility to take the exam. (In case of technical problems, send me an email before the registration period runs out).

• Session 1 written test - 2014-01-13 at 14:30 in room A102 - answers - results
• Session 2 written test - 2014-02-03 at 14:30 in room A103 - answers - results
• Session 3 written test - 2014-06-12 at 14:30 in room A207 - answers - results
• Session 4 written test - 2014-07-07 at 14:30 in room A207 - answers - results
• Session 5 written test - 2014-09-02 at 14:30 in room A207 - answers - results
• Sessions in 2015 - information

WARNING: it is likely that another professor will be teaching Computability for the next academic year 2014/2015. If that happens, all frozen marks will be lost, as written in the exam rules. If you hold a frozen mark, the September session will be your last opportunity to use it.

Reminder: there will be NO other exam sessions beyond the mandated five per year. This is communicated to students every year during the first lecture.

I will try my best to avoid changing the exam dates so that students can plan everything in advance (e.g. buying plane tickets). Because of this, I can not move exam dates, even in the unfortunate event that they overlap with, or are very near to, other exams. Please also understand that the current system does not allow me to predict overlaps: I can only discover them once they are published on Esse3, and by that time it is too late.

References

The students wishing to improve their understanding of mathematical proofs are referred to the following basic logic and set theory books:

• Elements of logic via numbers and sets, D.L. Johnson, Chapter 6
• Proofs in Mathematics: an Introduction, J. Franklin and A. Daoud (Quakers Hill Press, 1996)
• A Brief Introduction to Proofs, W.J. Turner
• Introduction to the foundations of mathematics, R.L. Wilder, Chapter 4
• Sets, functions, and logic : an introduction to abstract mathematics, K. Devlin, Sections 4.6, 4.7

Computability references and textbooks:

• My notes.
• N.J. Cutland, Computability, Cambridge University Press
• H.P. Barendregt, The Lambda Calculus - its syntax and semantics, North Holland
• H. Rogers, Theory of recursive functions and effective computability, McGraw-Hill.
• An on line interpreter for the untyped lambda calculus. You want to set it on singlestep + normal order (= leftmost-outermost strategy).
• Another lambda calculus interpreter

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Roberto Zunino, 2013