This course provides a challenging introduction to some of the central ideas of theoretical computer science. Beginning in antiquity, the course will progress through finite automata, circuits and decision trees, Turing machines and computability, efficient algorithms and reducibility, the P versus NP problem, NP-completeness, the power of randomness, cryptography and one-way functions, computational learning theory, and quantum computing. It examines the classes of problems that can and cannot be solved by various kinds of machines. It tries to explain the key differences between computational models that affect their power.

Theory for programmers. Introduction to programming and computability theory based on a term-rewriting, "substitution" model of computation by Scheme programs with side-effects. Computation as algebraic manipulation: provable and valid inequalities for multivariate polynomials. Scheme evaluation as algebraic manipulation and term rewriting theory. Paradoxes from self-application and introduction to formal programming semantics. Undecidability of the Halting Problem for Scheme. Properties of recursively enumerable sets, leading to Incompleteness Theorems for Scheme equivalences. Introduction to logic for program specification and verification. Hilbert's Tenth Problem. Alternate years. 6.844 is a graduate introduction to programming theory, logic of programming, and computability, with the programming language Scheme used to crystallize computability constructions and as an object of study itself. Topics covered include: programming and computability theory based on a term-rewriting, "substitution" model of computation by Scheme programs with side-effects; computation as algebraic manipulation: Scheme evaluation as algebraic manipulation and term rewriting theory; paradoxes from self-application and introduction to formal programming semantics; undecidability of the Halting Problem for Scheme; properties of recursively enumerable sets, leading to Incompleteness Theorems for Scheme equivalences; logic for program specification and verification; and Hilbert's Tenth Problem.

This course provides a challenging introduction to some of the central ideas of theoretical computer science. It attempts to present a vision of "computer science beyond computers": that is, CS as a set of mathematical tools for understanding complex systems such as universes and minds. Beginning in antiquity--with Euclid's algorithm and other ancient examples of computational thinking--the course will progress rapidly through propositional logic, Turing machines and computability, finite automata, Gödel's theorems, efficient algorithms and reducibility, NP-completeness, the P versus NP problem, decision trees and other concrete computational models, the power of randomness, cryptography and one-way functions, computational theories of learning, interactive proofs, and quantum computing and the physical limits of computation. Class participation is essential, as the class will include discussion and debate about the implications of many of these ideas.

Different kinds of infinity; the paradoxes of set theory; the reduction of arithmetic to logic; formal systems; paradoxes involving the concept of truth; Godel's incompleteness theorems; the nonformalizable nature of mathematical truth; and Turing machines.

A Problem Course in Mathematical Logic is intended to serve as the text for an introduction to mathematical logic for undergraduates with some mathematical sophistication. It supplies definitions, statements of results, and problems, along with some explanations, examples, and hints. The idea is for the students, individually or in groups, to learn the material by solving the problems and proving the results for themselves. The book should do as the text for a course taught using the modified Moore-method.

A more extensive and theoretical treatment of the material in 6.045J/18.400J, emphasizing computability and computational complexity theory. Regular and context-free languages. Decidable and undecidable problems, reducibility, recursive function theory. Time and space measures on computation, completeness, hierarchy theorems, inherently complex problems, oracles, probabilistic computation, and interactive proof systems.