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Theory of Computation

Also Known As Computability Theory
Theory Of Computation

Theory of computation is a branch of theoretical computer science and mathematics investigating which problems can be solved by computational models and algorithms, and how efficiently. It comprises three interconnected areas: automata theory, computability theory and computational complexity theory. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Origin Year
1960 1
1960 marks the founding of FOCS, one of the field's formative conferences, not a single invention date; the discipline developed gradually over the mid twentieth century.
Core Concern
Determining which problems are computable at all, at what efficiency, and to what accuracy, building on the foundational work of Alan Turing, Alonzo Church, Kurt Gödel, Stephen Kleene, John von Neumann and Claude Shannon. 1
Connections

Associated With

Alan Turing, Pioneers
Source Wikipedia: Theory of Computation
Source Wikipedia: Quantum computing

Includes

Source Wikipedia: Alexander Razborov
Source Wikipedia: Allan Borodin
Source Wikipedia: Alonzo Church
Andrew Yao, Pioneers
Source Wikipedia: Andrew Yao
Anne Condon, Pioneers
Source Wikipedia: Anne Condon
Arto Salomaa, Pioneers
Source Arto Salomaa (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Avi Wigderson

Formal computation model for program-size/Kolmogorov complexity study places it in theory of computation.

Source Binary Combinatory Logic (Wikipedia)
Source Boris Trakhtenbrot (Wikipedia)
Source Charles Rackoff (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Christos Papadimitriou
Source Wikipedia: Constantinos Daskalakis
Dana Scott, Pioneers
Source Wikipedia: Dana Scott
Source Dimitris Fotakis (Wikipedia)
Source DPLL algorithm (Wikipedia)
Source Driver scheduling problem (Wikipedia)
Emil Post, Pioneers
Source Emil Leon Post (Wikipedia)
Source Eric Allender, Wikipedia
Eva Tardos, Pioneers
Source Éva Tardos (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Finite-state machine
Source Gregory Chaitin (Wikipedia)
Source Grzegorz Rozenberg (Wikipedia)
Günter Hotz, Pioneers
Source Günter Hotz (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Haskell Curry
Ingo Wegener, Pioneers
Source Ingo Wegener (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Jeffrey Ullman
Jin-Yi Cai, Pioneers
Source Jin-Yi Cai, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: John Hopcroft
Source John V. Tucker, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: John von Neumann
Source Judy Goldsmith, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Juris Hartmanis
Source Kurt Mehlhorn (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Lance Fortnow
Source Larry Stockmeyer, Wikipedia
Source Laszlo Kalmar, Wikipedia
Lenore Blum, Pioneers
Source Wikipedia: Lenore Blum
Leonid Levin, Pioneers
Source Leonid Levin (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Leslie Valiant
Manuel Blum, Pioneers
Source Wikipedia: Manuel Blum
Source Wikipedia: Maurice Nivat
Source Wikipedia: Michael Garey
Source Wikipedia: Michael O. Rabin
Source Wikipedia: Mihalis Yannakakis
Source Wikipedia: Mike Paterson
Miklos Ajtai, Pioneers
Source Miklós Ajtai (Wikipedia)

Showing 1 to 50 of 93 in Includes, page 1 of 2.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Theory of Computation
Wikimedia Foundation
  • History section
    The theory of computation can be considered the creation of models of all kinds in the field of computer science.
  • History
    Some pioneers of the theory of computation were Ramon Llull, Alonzo Church, Kurt Gödel, Alan Turing, Stephen Kleene, Rózsa Péter, John von Neumann and Claude Shannon.
  • History section, FOCS founding
    In the last century, it separated from mathematics and became an independent academic discipline with its own conferences such as FOCS in 1960 and STOC in 1969.
  • Introduction
    In theoretical computer science and mathematics, the theory of computation is the branch that deals with what problems can be solved on a model of computation using an algorithm, how efficiently they can be solved and to what degree.
  • Associated With: Alan Turing, History section, founding figures
  • In Group: Models of Computation and Learning, lead section
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Wikipedia: Finite-state machine
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Finite State Machine, General descriptionView the Source
Wikipedia: Regular expression
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Regular Expression, History sectionView the Source
Wikipedia: Quantum computing
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Quantum Computing, Algorithms section
Quote, Associated With: Quantum Computing, Algorithms section
Quantum algorithms can be roughly categorized by the type of speedup achieved over corresponding classical algorithms.
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Binary Combinatory Logic (Wikipedia)
Includes: Binary combinatory logic, Lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Binary combinatory logic, Lead paragraph
Binary combinatory logic (BCL) is a computer programming language that uses binary terms 0 and 1 to create a complete formulation of combinatory logic using only the symbols 0 and 1.
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Wikipedia: Rozsa Peter
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Rozsa Peter, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Rozsa Peter, Lead section
founding mother of recursion theory
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Neil D. Jones (Wikipedia)
Includes: Neil D. Jones, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Neil D. Jones, Lead section
programming languages and the theory of computation
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Wikipedia: Haskell Curry
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Haskell Curry, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Haskell Curry, Lead section
best known for his work in combinatory logic
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IEEE Computer Society History Committee: Computer Pioneers: Victor Mikhaylovich Glushkov
IEEE Computer Society History CommitteeIncludes: Victor Glushkov, Biography header
Quote, Includes: Victor Glushkov, Biography header
a great influence on automata and cybernetics
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Wikipedia: John von Neumann
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: John von Neumann, Lead
Quote, Includes: John von Neumann, Lead
He was a pioneer in building the mathematical framework of quantum physics, in the development of functional analysis, and in game theory, introducing or codifying concepts including cellular automata, the universal constructor and the digital computer.
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Paritosh Pandya (Wikipedia)
Includes: Paritosh Pandya, Lead
Quote, Includes: Paritosh Pandya, Lead
Pandya leads the Theoretical Computer Science Group there.
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Zdzisław Pawlak (Wikipedia)
Includes: Zdzisław Pawlak, Lead
Quote, Includes: Zdzisław Pawlak, Lead
Pawlak was known for his contribution to many branches of theoretical computer science.
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Rajeev Motwani (Wikipedia)
Includes: Rajeev Motwani, Lead
Quote, Includes: Rajeev Motwani, Lead
Rajeev Motwani (Hindi: राजीव मोटवानी , 24 March 1962-5 June 2009) was an Indian-American professor of computer science at Stanford University whose research focused on theoretical computer science.
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Thierry Coquand (Wikipedia)
Includes: Thierry Coquand, Lead
Quote, Includes: Thierry Coquand, Lead
In addition to his contributions to theoretical computer science, Coquand is also known as the co-creator of the Rocq (formerly named Coq, the name is a reference partly to Coquand's surname) proof assistant, which he began developing in 1984 while working at INRIA (a French national research institute for computer science and mathematics), and which was released officially in 1989.
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Wolfgang Händler (Wikipedia)
Includes: Wolfgang Handler, Lead
Quote, Includes: Wolfgang Handler, Lead
emberg (Institut für Mathematische Maschinen und Datenverarbeitung) known for his work on automata theory, parallel computing, artificial intelligence, man-machine interfaces and computer graphics.
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Kurt Mehlhorn (Wikipedia)
Includes: Kurt Mehlhorn, Lead
Quote, Includes: Kurt Mehlhorn, Lead
Kurt Mehlhorn (born 29 August 1949) is a German theoretical computer scientist.
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DPLL algorithm (Wikipedia)
Includes: DPLL algorithm, Implementations and applications
Quote, Includes: DPLL algorithm, Implementations and applications
In complexity theory it was the first problem proved to be NP-complete
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Wikipedia: Alonzo Church
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Alonzo Church, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Michael O. Rabin
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Michael O. Rabin, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Manuel Blum
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Manuel Blum, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Stephen Cook
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Stephen Cook, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Scott Aaronson
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Scott Aaronson, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Dana Scott
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Dana Scott, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: John Hopcroft
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: John Hopcroft, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Leslie Valiant
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Leslie Valiant, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Christos Papadimitriou
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Christos Papadimitriou, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Juris Hartmanis
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Juris Hartmanis, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Lenore Blum
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Lenore Blum, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Nitin Saxena
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Nitin Saxena, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Richard E. Stearns
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Richard E. Stearns, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Moshe Vardi
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Moshe Vardi, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Lance Fortnow
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Lance Fortnow, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Oded Goldreich
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Oded Goldreich, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Mihalis Yannakakis
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Mihalis Yannakakis, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Seymour Ginsburg
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Seymour Ginsburg, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Shmuel Winograd
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Shmuel Winograd, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Steven Rudich
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Steven Rudich, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Sheila Greibach
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Sheila Greibach, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Michael Garey
Includes: Michael Garey, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Andrew Yao
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Andrew Yao, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Jeffrey Ullman
Includes: Jeffrey D. Ullman, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Maurice Nivat
Includes: Maurice Nivat, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Walter Savitch
Includes: Walter Savitch, Lead paragraphView the Source
John V. Tucker, Wikipedia
Includes: John V. Tucker, Lead paragraphView the Source
Larry Stockmeyer, Wikipedia
Includes: Larry Stockmeyer, Lead paragraphView the Source
Emil Leon Post (Wikipedia)
Includes: Emil Post, Lead paragraphView the Source
Eric Allender, Wikipedia
Includes: Eric Allender, Lead paragraphView the Source
Éva Tardos (Wikipedia)
Includes: Eva Tardos, Lead paragraphView the Source
Gregory Chaitin (Wikipedia)
Includes: Gregory Chaitin, Lead paragraphView the Source
Grzegorz Rozenberg (Wikipedia)
Includes: Grzegorz Rozenberg, Lead paragraphView the Source
Ming Li (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ming Li, Lead paragraphView the Source
Oscar H. Ibarra (Wikipedia)
Includes: Oscar H. Ibarra, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Alexander Razborov
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Alexander Razborov, Lead paragraphView the Source
Paul Spirakis (Wikipedia)
Includes: Paul Spirakis, Lead paragraphView the Source
Pseudorandom generator (Wikipedia)
Includes: Pseudorandom generator, Lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Vijay Vazirani
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Vijay Vazirani, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Mike Paterson
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Mike Paterson, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Avi Wigderson
Includes: Avi Wigderson, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Richard E. Ladner
Includes: Richard E. Ladner, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Allan Borodin
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Allan Borodin, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Constantinos Daskalakis
Includes: Constantinos Daskalakis, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source
Phokion G. Kolaitis (Wikipedia)
Includes: Phokion G. Kolaitis, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source
Richard Lipton
Includes: Richard J. Lipton, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Rod Downey
Includes: Rod Downey, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source
Miklós Ajtai (Wikipedia)
Includes: Miklos Ajtai, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source
Wikipedia: Stephen Cole Kleene
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Stephen Cole Kleene, Lead
Quote, Includes: Stephen Cole Kleene, Lead
One of the students of Alonzo Church, Kleene, along with Rózsa Péter, Alan Turing, Emil Post, and others, is best known as a founder of the branch of mathematical logic known as recursion theory, which subsequently helped to provide the foundations of theoretical computer science.
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Wikipedia: Yuri Matiyasevich
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Yuri Matiyasevich, Infobox: known_for
Quote, Includes: Yuri Matiyasevich, Infobox: known_for
his contribution to computability theory, especially solving Hilbert's tenth problem, through Matiyasevich's theorem
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Wikipedia: Peter O'Hearn
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Peter O'Hearn, Infobox: fields
Quote, Includes: Peter O'Hearn, Infobox: fields
Programming languages Program analysis Formal verification Theoretical computer science
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Wikipedia: Samson Abramsky
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Samson Abramsky, Infobox: fields
Quote, Includes: Samson Abramsky, Infobox: fields
Theoretical computer science Quantum information and Quantum foundations, foundations Game semantics Category Theory
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Laszlo Kalmar, Wikipedia
Includes: Laszlo Kalmar, Lead
Quote, Includes: Laszlo Kalmar, Lead
Kalmár is considered the founder of mathematical logic and theoretical computer science in Hungary.
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Judy Goldsmith, Wikipedia
Includes: Judy Goldsmith, Lead
Quote, Includes: Judy Goldsmith, Lead
Judith Anne Goldsmith is a computer scientist whose publications span a wide range of topics including artificial intelligence, computational complexity theory, decision theory, and computer science education.
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Noga Alon, Wikipedia
Includes: Noga Alon, Infobox: fields
Quote, Includes: Noga Alon, Infobox: fields
Mathematics Theoretical computer science
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Wikipedia: Anne Condon
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Anne Condon, Lead
Quote, Includes: Anne Condon, Lead
Her research focuses on computational complexity theory, DNA computing, and bioinformatics.
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Charles Rackoff (Wikipedia)
Includes: Charles Rackoff, Lead
Quote, Includes: Charles Rackoff, Lead
His research is in computational complexity theory, cryptography and security protocols.
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Wikipedia: Neil Immerman
Includes: Neil Immerman, Lead
Quote, Includes: Neil Immerman, Lead
He is one of the key developers of descriptive complexity
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Wikipedia: Róbert Szelepcsényi
Includes: Róbert Szelepcsényi, Lead
Quote, Includes: Róbert Szelepcsényi, Lead
His results on the closure of non-deterministic space under complement
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Philippa Gardner (Wikipedia)
Includes: Philippa Gardner, Lead
Quote, Includes: Philippa Gardner, Lead
She has been Professor of Theoretical Computer Science at the Department of Computing, Imperial College London since 2009.
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Driver scheduling problem (Wikipedia)
Includes: Driver scheduling problem, Lead
Quote, Includes: Driver scheduling problem, Lead
The driver scheduling problem (DSP) is type of problem in operations research and theoretical computer science.
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Ingo Wegener (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ingo Wegener, Lead
Quote, Includes: Ingo Wegener, Lead
Ingo Wegener (December 4, 1950 in Bremen, November 26, 2008 in Bielefeld) was an influential German computer scientist working in the field of theoretical computer science.
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Victor Varshavsky (Wikipedia)
Includes: Victor Varshavsky, Lead
Quote, Includes: Victor Varshavsky, Lead
His research was concentrated in three areas: threshold logic, probabilistic automata, and asynchronous circuits.
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Arto Salomaa (Wikipedia)
Includes: Arto Salomaa, Lead
Quote, Includes: Arto Salomaa, Lead
His research career, which spanned over 40 years, was focused on formal languages and automata theory.
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Dimitris Fotakis (Wikipedia)
Includes: Dimitris Fotakis, Lead
Quote, Includes: Dimitris Fotakis, Lead
Dimitris Fotakis (Greek: Δημήτριος (Δημήτρης) Φωτάκης) is associate professor of Theoretical Computer Science at the National Technical University of Athens.
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Leonid Levin (Wikipedia)
Includes: Leonid Levin, Lead
Quote, Includes: Leonid Levin, Lead
He is known for his work in randomness in computing, algorithmic complexity and intractability, average-case complexity, foundations of mathematics and computer science, algorithmic probability, theory of computation, and information theory.
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Jin-Yi Cai, Wikipedia
Includes: Jin-Yi Cai, Lead
Quote, Includes: Jin-Yi Cai, Lead
His research is in theoretical computer science, especially computational complexity theory.
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Boris Trakhtenbrot (Wikipedia)
Includes: Boris Trakhtenbrot, Lead
Quote, Includes: Boris Trakhtenbrot, Lead
Boris (Boaz) Abramovich Trakhtenbrot (Russian: Борис Авраамович Трахтенброт, Hebrew: בועז טרכטנברוט; 19 February 1921-19 September 2016) was a Russian-Israeli mathematician in logic, algorithms, theory of computation, and cybernetics.
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Rūsiņš Mārtiņš Freivalds (Wikipedia)
Includes: Rusins Martins Freivalds, Lead
Quote, Includes: Rusins Martins Freivalds, Lead
He was celebrated for founding ultrametric algorithms and for fundamental contributions to the theory of computation, probabilistic algorithms, inductive inference, and quantum computing.
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Günter Hotz (Wikipedia)
Includes: Günter Hotz, Lead
Quote, Includes: Günter Hotz, Lead
His work includes formal languages, digital circuits and computational complexity theory.
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