<p><a href="http://www.cs.brown.edu/~jes/book/pdfs/ModelsOfComputation.pdf">Models of Computation &mdash; Exploring the Power of Computing</a> by John E. Savage <em>(Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States license)</em>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-03T08:56:29.923Z
2012-10-03T08:56:29.923Z
John K.
<p>There are class notes online. For example...
<a href="http://valis.cs.uiuc.edu/~sariel/teach/notes/373/">http://valis.cs.uiuc.edu/~sariel/teach/notes/373/</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-03T00:33:18.593Z
2012-10-03T00:33:18.593Z
Sariel Har-Peled
<p>I totally recommend the draft of a book <a href="http://www.liafa.jussieu.fr/~jep/PDF/MPRI/MPRI.pdf" rel="nofollow">Mathematical Foundations of Automata Theory</a> by <a href="http://www.liafa.jussieu.fr/~jep/indexAnglais.html" rel="nofollow">Jean-Eric Pin</a>. 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.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-03T08:19:40.383Z
That's hardly an introductory text.
Dave Clarke
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-04T00:37:44.927Z
Yeah, that looks like a fine text, but my target audience doesn't generally have any abstract algebra background.
Kevin A. Wortman
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-03T08:04:20.590Z
2012-10-03T08:04:20.590Z
Marcos Villagra
<p>Maheshwari and Smid's <a href="http://cg.scs.carleton.ca/~michiel/TheoryOfComputation/TheoryOfComputation.pdf">Introduction to Theory of Computation</a> 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.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-03T21:51:56.067Z
Thanks! I will probably use this as the main text, augmented with the Fleck & Har-Peled lecture notes.
Kevin A. Wortman
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-03T00:47:49.857Z
2012-10-03T00:47:49.857Z
David Eppstein
<p>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?</p>

<p>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.</p>

<soft-question><teaching><books>
Language and automata textbook, free or low cost?
Kevin A. Wortman
# Language and automata textbook, free or low cost?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-10-02)

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.

**Tags:** soft-question, teaching, books

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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2012-10-03. Score: 12 | Accepted answer

Maheshwari and Smid's [Introduction to Theory of Computation](http://cg.scs.carleton.ca/~michiel/TheoryOfComputation/TheoryOfComputation.pdf) 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.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks! I will probably use this as the main text, augmented with the Fleck & Har-Peled lecture notes.  

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### Answer by username_1 on 2012-10-03. Score: 8

[Models of Computation — Exploring the Power of Computing](http://www.cs.brown.edu/~jes/book/pdfs/ModelsOfComputation.pdf) by John E. Savage *(Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States license)*.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2012-10-03. Score: 6

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


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### Answer by username_3 on 2012-10-03. Score: 2

I totally recommend the draft of a book [Mathematical Foundations of Automata Theory](http://www.liafa.jussieu.fr/~jep/PDF/MPRI/MPRI.pdf) by [Jean-Eric Pin](http://www.liafa.jussieu.fr/~jep/indexAnglais.html). 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.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: That's hardly an introductory text.  
> **username_0**: Yeah, that looks like a fine text, but my target audience doesn't generally have any abstract algebra background.  

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