▼CS420 :   Intro to Theory of Computation
►Course Info
On this page:
1 Staff
2 Lecture
3 Office Hours
4 Textbook
5 Homework
6 Exams
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Course Info🔗

Last updated: Mon, 14 Sep 2026 18:38:53 -0400

This page lists basic information about the course such as people and times.

1 Staff🔗

Instructor: Stephen Chang (email: Stephen.Chang)

TA: Martin

TA: Clayton

TA: Mohamad

(Please do not directly email course TAs. All communication should go through the appropriate channel, e.g., Piazza, GradeScope, Office Hours, etc)

(All emails are UMB addresses)

2 Lecture🔗

Times

Lectures meet Tuesday and Thursday at:

  • CS420-03: 12:30 - 1:45PM, McCormack M02-0116

  • CS420-02: 2:00 - 3:15PM, Wheatley-Peters W01-0004

Note that the section numbers follow the registar labels, even though they are not in time order.

Here’s a Google Calendar with class times, iCal format (requires UMB login).

First Lecture: Tuesday, September 08, 2026

Last Lecture: Thursday, December 10, 2026

See also Lecture Policy.

3 Office Hours🔗

Office hours will be held weekly in-person, in small groups, at these times and locations (subject to change):

  • Mon 1-3pm (Pomplun Lab M03-0732) (Martin)

  • Tue 3:30-5:30pm (Student Unix/PC Lab M03-0731) (Clayton)

  • Thu 3:30-5:30pm (Student Unix/PC Lab M03-0731) (Mohamad)

  • Fri 12-2pm (Pomplun Lab M03-0732) (Prof Chang)

    Drop-ins are fine, but emailing in advance if you can would be helpful.

    Office hours are typically conducted as group meetings, though of course we will attempt to answer all questions as time allows.

    4 Textbook🔗

    Material from the course will typically be drawn from the the following textbooks, though the instructor may adapt or augment any topics found in these books:

    • Michael Sipser. Introduction to the Theory of Computation, 3rd edition. 2012, Cengage.

    • Hopcroft, Motwani, Ullman. Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation, 3rd edition. 2007, Pearson.

    In general, the lectures and slides are self-contained, but for reference book chapters to accompany each lecture are listed.

    In past courses, students that read the textbook chapters learn more from lecture and earn higher grades in the course (students who do not read have a tougher time with the course).

    5 Homework🔗

    Homework will be assigned weekly.

    We will usually try to follow this schedule:

    Homework due: Tuesday 12:00 pm EST (noon)

    Homework out: Tuesday 12:00 pm EST (noon)

    But the above is subject to change due to holidays or other circumstances.

    See also Homework Submission Policy.

    6 Exams🔗

    There are no exams for this course this semester.

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