200 Problems on Languages, Automata, and Computation

Formal languages and automata have long been fundamental to theoretical computer science, but students often struggle to understand these concepts in the abstract. This book provides a rich source of compelling exercises designed to help students grasp the subject intuitively through practice. The text covers important topics such as finite automata, regular expressions, push-down automata, grammars, and Turing machines via a series of problems of increasing difficultly. Problems are organised by topic, many with multiple follow-ups, and each section begins with a short recap of the basic notions necessary to make progress. Complete solutions are given for all exercises, making the book well suited for self-study as well as for use as a course supplement. Developed over the course of the editors’ two decades of experience teaching the acclaimed Automata, Formal Languages, and Computation course at the University of Warsaw, it is an ideal resource for students and instructors alike.

Author Biography

Filip Murlak is Associate Professor at the University of Warsaw, where he lectures on automata, complexity, logic, and databases. His publications include the books Relational and XML Data Exchange (2010) and Foundations of Data Exchange (2014). Damian Niwiński is Professor at the University of Warsaw, where he lectures on automata theory, languages and computations, complexity, algorithmic game theory, and information theory. His publications include the monograph Rudiments of Mu-calculus (with A. Arnold, 2001). Wojciech Rytter is Professor at the University of Warsaw and a member of the Academia Europaea. He is the author of a large number of publications on automata, formal languages, parallel computing and text algorithms. He is a co-author of several books, including Efficient parallel algorithms (1987), Text algorithms (1994) and 125 Exercises in Text Algorithms (2021).