Course Syllabus CS 3540 Programming Languages and Paradigms Spring Semester 2013

Basics

Instructor: Eugene Wallingford

• Office: 305 ITTC (the former East Gym)
• Phone: 273-5919
• E-Mail: wallingf@cs.uni.edu
• WWW: http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/


• Click here for my office hours and schedule

Resources

• Required texts:
  • The Little Schemer, by Daniel Friedman and Matthias Felleisen (print)

    The Little Schemer uses an unusual question-and-answer format to help you to think and program in a new style. It's well worth a few dollars. Some people really like this format. If you are one of them, then take a look at The Seasoned Schemer, also by Friedman and Felleisen.

  • Revised⁵ Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme, aka "R5RS" (on-line)

    This is the Scheme language definition, version 5. It contains information on all the standard data types and procedures of the language and is a simple-to-use reference for the course. Jump right to the table of contents to look up specific topics.

  • The Scheme Programming Language, by Kent Dybvig (on-line)

    This textbook gives a thorough introduction to Scheme, with some tutorial material and several cool examples You can buy also a print copy of Dybvig's book from a variety of booksellers, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and probably many discount dealers.

• Electronic resources:
  • The course web page, http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/teaching/cs3540/
  • The course mailing list, cs3540@cs.uni.edu
  • The programming environment Dr. Racket

  Note that to send messages to the course mailing list, you must send from the mailing address from which you are subscribed. By default, that is your uni.edu e-mail address. If you'd like to be subscribed from some other address, just let me know.

  See the course resources page for information on other Scheme platforms and resources.

Course Goals

The study of programming languages and paradigms is fundamental to the discipline of computer science. As a computer scientist, regardless of your specialty, you should have a deep understanding of the principles of programming languages. They govern the design and use of every language that you will encounter. They affect the design of the applications you encounter. They even affect the architecture of the machines on which we run our programs. If you understand these design principles, then you will find it easier to be become an effective user of any language, to adapt to new paradigms as they evolve, and to design and implement new languages when necessary. You may be surprised to learn just how often you find yourself implementing small languages as a part of your applications.

This course aims to help you develop a deep, hands-on understanding of the essentials of programming languages. It does so by confronting you with the most fundamental idea in computer programming: The interpreter for any computer language is just another program. We will first lay the foundation for the analytic study of programming languages and then use those ideas to develop a sequence of increasingly detailed interpreters for a simple language.

One prerequisite to this approach is that you learn a programming style that makes it relatively easy to build language interpreters. We will learn Scheme, a programming language that allows us to treat programs as data and vice versa. One of the extra benefits of learning Scheme is that you will learn to program in a functional style, which will expand your programming repertiore. It will be the third "paradigm" in which you can program, in addition to procedural (Python, Ada, C) and object-oriented (Java, Python). Functional programming differs from the other two styles in a very important way: in functional programming, we compute for values, rather than for side effects.

By the end of the semester, you should feel comfortable:

• discussing the basic features that comprise a programming language,
• studying the implementation of a programming language in an interpreter,
• describing how programming languages differ from one another, and
• learning a new programming language.

Note that this course is not about any particular programming language, nor even about a smorgasbord of different languages. We will not study the syntax of new programming languages so that you can use them to write programs. Instead, we will seek develop the knowledge and skills necessary for you to be able to study other languages on your own. The course does introduce you to Scheme, a small and malleable programming language, as a tool for expressing the features of languages and writing language interpreters. It will be the microscope we use to study the broader principles of programming languages and paradigms.

Course Requirements

• Class sessions -- Our class meetings will consist of a mixture of lecture, discussion, and in-class exercises. Much of our lecture and discussion material will go beyond what you read in our textbooks, so attendance is essential. I expect you to read assigned topics prior to the class session and to participate actively in class.


• Homework assignments -- Over the course of the term, you will complete ten to twelve homework assignments. These assignments will involve applying techniques learned in class and doing small experiments with programs that are provided to you. Some assignments will involve writing and some will consist of paper exercises, but most will involve programming.


• Quizzes -- During the term, you will complete four or five small exams, one for each unit of the course. I affectionately call these exams "quizzes" because they last only thirty to forty minutes. The date of each quiz is tentatively set on the schedule below. Ordinarily, I will announce any change to the schedule at least one week in advance.


• Final exam -- Finally, you will take a comprehensive exam at the end of the course.

Course Evaluation

You will earn your grade based on your performance on homework assignments, quizzes, and the final examination. I assign final grades using the following distribution:

Grades will be assigned using an absolute scale:

• 90% or above for an A,
• 80% or above for a B,
• 70% or above for a C,
• 60% or above for a D, and
• below 60% for an F.

This means that there is no curve. However, I reserve the right to lower the individual grade boundaries at the end of the term if I think that produces grades that better reflect what students have achieved.

Course Policies

• I try to accommodate student needs whenever possible, but I can only do so if I know about them. If you ever have to make alternate arrangements for a class session, a quiz, or an assignment, please contact me in advance. The safest way to make such arrangements is by notifying me via e-mail or phone of your circumstances and of how you can be reached.


• My regularly-scheduled office hours are times when I am committed to provide assistance to you. No matter how busy I may appear when you arrive, the office hours are for you. You are welcome -- and encouraged -- to make use of that time. I am also available by appointment at other times if you cannot make an office hour.


• All assignments are due at their assigned date and time. In order to receive partial credit, always submit your best effort at that time. I do not accept late work.


• I encourage students to bring laptops to class and to use them as we write code and learn new ideas. However, your use of of a laptop must never distract another student. This applies to other classroom technology, including cell phones.


• I encourage you to work together on homework assignments, as a way to help you understand the problems better and to encounter different points of view about possible solutions. However, any work you submit must be your own. Discuss ideas, but write your own answers, including all code. You must acknowledge any collaboration explicitly in the work you submit. Undocumented or unacceptable collaboration is considered a form of academic dishonesty.



• UNI has an established policy of academic integrity. Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in this course. See the UNI catalog under "Academic Ethics Policies" for details on the university's policy.

Tentative Schedule

The following schedule gives a rough sketch of the topics we will cover and the distinguished dates this semester. The quiz dates are tentative. If I decide to change a quiz date, I will notify you at least one week prior to the quiz date.

The FINAL EXAM is Thursday, May 9, from 3:00 PM - 4:45 PM.