This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
• Propositional & Predicate Logic, including proofs
• Formal languages: finite automata and regular expressions
• Elements of CFGs, Turing machines and decidability
• Introduction to Concurrency and Parallelism, threading model
• Synchronisation primitives for mutual exclusions & condition synchronization (e.g. Semaphores, Critical regions, Monitors)
• Safety and Liveness properties (e.g. Deadlocks, Livelocks, Starvation, Priority Inversion)
• Concurrency patterns (e.g., Producer-Consumer, Thread Pools, Lambda & Streams, Futures)
• Overview of other concurrency models (e.g. Message Passing, Tuple Spaces, CSPs, Actors, Transactions, Events)
Total contact hours: 33
Private study hours: 117
Total study hours: 150
This module will be assessed by 50% examination and 50% coursework.
• John Martin, Introduction to Languages and the Theory of Computation, McGraw-Hill, 4th Edition, 2010.
• George S. Boolos et al, Computability and Logic, Cambridge Press, 5th Edition, 2007.
• Brian Goetz et al, Java Concurrency in Practice, Addison-Wesley, 2015.
See the library reading list for this module (Medway)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1 Understand specifications in formal logical notation
2 Understand the expressiveness of various language formalisms
3 Understand the difference between decidable and undecidable problems
4 Have a basic understanding of the concepts of concurrent programming: software processes/threads, communication and synchronisation
5 Be able to use effectively concurrent programming paradigms to design systems
6 Be able to implement concurrent programs to solve specific problems using appropriate programming paradigms
7 Have an understanding of deadlock, livelock, and starvation when designing concurrent systems
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