Syllabus and general information for MCS-287: Organization and Theory of Programming Languages (Spring 2000)

Overview

Throughout your computer science education, you work with programming languages. But in this course, the programming languages themselves will be our object of study. Because any two real programming languages usually differ from one another in several unrelated ways, which makes systematic comparison difficult, we'll instead use a "variations on a theme" approach for our study. However, the principles we learn will be important precisely because they are the same ones that shape real languages -- of the future as well as the past. Our primary tool for understanding languages will be writing programs that operate on other programs, including interpreters that carry out the computations that programs specify.

Office hours

I will be available in my office (OHS 303) on Tuesdays from 10:30 to 11:20, on Wednesdays from 11:30 to 12:20, on Thursdays from 1:30 to 2:20 (except March 9), on Fridays from 2:30 to 3:20 (except March 10), and by appointment. You may send me electronic mail at max@gac.edu or call me at extension 7466. I'll try to put any updates to my office hours on my web page, so check there if in doubt.

World Wide Web

All course materials will be available through my World Wide Web page. The URL for this course is http://www.gustavus.edu/~max/courses/S2000/MCS-287/. After this syllabus I will give hardcopy handouts only to those students who want them.

Prerequisites

You should have taken both MCS-178 and MCS-236 prior to this course. I expect that you can program in Scheme and are comfortable with recursion, higher-order programming, data abstraction, and inductive thinking.

Text and readings

The textbook for this course is Essentials of Programming Languages by Friedman, Wand, and Haynes. I will be distributing a newer version of chapter 6 to those with older printings of the book and a chapter 13 (which was not included in the first edition).

Labs

In this course, there is an important distinction between lab assignments and lab days. Lab assignments are longer, more coherent programming assignments than the homework assignments. Lab days are class periods we will spend working in the computer lab. However, you may spend lab days working on homework as well as lab assignments. And you will definitely need to work on the lab assignments on your own, not just on the lab days.

Attendance is mandatory for all lab days, unless you have already turned in all homework and lab assignments that have been distributed. I will excuse up to three absences per student, for any reason. Use yours wisely. If you exceed this allowance, I may reduce your course grade by one letter grade.

Honor

Students are encouraged to discuss the course, including issues raised by the assignments. However, the solutions to assignments should be individual original work unless otherwise specified. If an assignment makes you realize you don't understand the material, ask a fellow student a question designed to improve your understanding, not one designed to get the assignment done. To do otherwise is to cheat yourself out of understanding, as well as to be intolerably dishonorable.

Any substantive contribution to your solution by another person or taken from a publication should be properly acknowledged in writing. Failure to do so is plagiarism and will necessitate disciplinary action.

The same standards regarding plagiarism apply to team projects as to the work of individuals, except that the author is now the entire team rather than an individual. Anything taken from a source outside the team should be be properly cited.

One additional issue that arises from the team authorship of project reports is that all team members must stand behind all reports bearing their names. All team members have quality assurance responsibility for the entire project. If there is irreconcilable disagreement within the team it is necessary to indicate as much in the reports; this can be in the form of a ``minority opinion'' or ``dissenting opinion'' section where appropriate.

Homework assignment policy

I will assign a collection of homework problems for each chapter. Many of the homework problems will be programming problems, which you should check using a computer. A few will be problems that call for thinking and writing, rather than programming.

You may turn in any homework problem whenever you think you have it solved. I will return it to you as quickly as I can, but normally with only an indication of whether it is acceptable or needs more work. (Sometimes I may give a brief indication of what area it needs more work in.) If a problem needs more work, and you aren't sure what sort of work it still needs, you should treat that as an invitation to come talk with me about it. Once you've done the additional work, you may turn the problem in again. In fact, you may turn in each problem in as many times as you like, until it is marked as acceptable. Your grade for the homework portion of the course will be based on the fraction of homework problems that you eventually did acceptably.

Normally homework problems may be turned in at any time. However, if the class is not being responsible, and it looks like I may be faced with a flood of problems at the end of the semester, I may set due dates (always at least a week in the future). Also, if we would benefit from discussing a homework problem in class, I may issue a "last call" for solutions to that problem (again, at least a week in advance).

Unless I indicate that a particular problem must be done individually, you may work on any problem in a group of two or three students. Any solution produced by such a team should be turned in only once, with all team members names on it. Write "we all contributed fairly to this solution" and have all team members sign under that statement.

Late lab assignments

All lab assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day indicated. Late assignments will be penalized by one ``grade notch'' (such as A to A- or A- to B+) for each weekday late or fraction thereof. However, no late assignments will be accepted after graded assignments are handed back.

If you are too sick to complete an assignment on time, you will not be penalized. Simply write ``late due to illness'' at the top of the assignment, sign your name and hand it in. Other circumstances will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Grade changes

Please point out any arithmetic or clerical error I make in grading, and I will gladly fix it. You may also request reconsideration if I have been especially unjust.

Grading

The course components will contribute to your grade in the following proportion: However, I reserve the right to subjectively adjust your final grade. Please see me if you have any question how you stand. Class participation is not graded; however, it allows you to find and repair the gaps in your understanding before doing the assignments, and thus can dramatically improve your grade. You are responsible for all course material, whether or not you are present when it was covered or distributed.

Style guidelines

All assignments should be readily readable, and should not presuppose that I already know what you are trying to say. Use full English sentences where appropriate (namely almost everywhere) and clear diagrams, programs, etc. Remember that your goal is to communicate clearly, and that the appearance of these technical items plays a role in this communication process. Be sure your assignments are always stapled together and that your name is always on them.

Accessibility

Please contact me immediately if you have a learning or physical disability requiring accommodation.

Syllabus

This is my best guess as to the rate at which we will cover material. However, don't be shocked if I have to pass out one or more revised syllabi.
DateReadingTopicDue
2/71Scheme review
2/82.1-2.2Inductively specified data, recursion
2/102.3Scope, names, lexical depth
2/11continued

2/143.1-3.3Branching
2/153.4-3.5Records, data abstraction
2/173.6Converting representations
2/18continued

2/214.1-4.2Lambda calculus
2/22continued
2/244.3Reduction strategiesLab 1
2/25Lab day

2/28Continuations
2/294.4Recursion in the lambda calculus
3/2continued
3/3Lab day

3/6Lab day
3/7Review
3/9Test 1
3/10No class

3/134.5Imperative programming
3/144.6Variable assignment
3/165.1Simple interpreter, parsingLab 2
3/175.2-5.3Branching, let

3/20Lab day
3/215.4Procedures
3/235.5Assignment
3/24Lab day

4/3Lab day
4/45.6Recursion
4/66.1-6.2Call by reference
4/7continued

4/106.3Call by value/result
4/11continued
4/13Lab day
4/146.5Call by name

4/17continuedLab 3
4/18Review
4/20Test 2

4/2513.1Types
4/27Type checking
4/28Code

5/1Lab day
5/213.2More type constructors
5/413.3Unification
5/5Unification algorithm

5/8Lab day
5/9Type inference
5/1113.4Polymorphism
5/12Lab day

5/15Polymorphism continued
5/16ReviewLab 4


Course web site: http://www.gac.edu/~max/courses/S2000/MCS-287/
Instructor: Max Hailperin <max@gac.edu>