Language and automata textbook, free or low cost?

Question

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.

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 03 '12 at 00:47

12

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.

answered Oct 03 '12 at 00:47

David Eppstein

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Thanks! I will probably use this as the main text, augmented with the Fleck & Har-Peled lecture notes. – Kevin A. Wortman Oct 03 '12 at 21:51

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 03 '12 at 08:56

8

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

answered Oct 03 '12 at 08:56

Pål GD

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score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 03 '12 at 00:33

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

answered Oct 03 '12 at 00:33

Sariel Har-Peled

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 03 '12 at 08:04

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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.

answered Oct 03 '12 at 08:04

Marcos Villagra

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That's hardly an introductory text. – Dave Clarke Oct 03 '12 at 08:19
Yeah, that looks like a fine text, but my target audience doesn't generally have any abstract algebra background. – Kevin A. Wortman Oct 04 '12 at 00:37

Language and automata textbook, free or low cost?

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