Principles of Programming Languages

Coms S 342 Fall 2008, Iowa State University

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Latest News

First class is on Tuesday, August 26, 2:10pm-3:30pm

No recitation session on September 10

Logistics

Lecture:

Tuesday & Thursday 2:10pm-3:30pm

Room:

GILMAN 1810

Recitation Session:

Wednesday 2:10pm - 3:00pm

Room:

ATANSFF B0029

Instructor:

Ting Zhang
Office: 113 Atanasoff Hall
Email: tingz@cs.iastate.edu
Phone: 1-515-294-2410
Office hours: Tuesday & Thursday 1pm-2pm

TA:

Sean Mooney
Office: TBA
Email: smooney@iastate.edu
Office hours: Monday & Friday 1:30pm-2:30pm

Abstract:

This course is about fundamental concepts in the design and implementation of programming languages. It covers core features in modern programming languages, such as name binding, control flow, data types, abstraction, modularity, exception handling and so on. Students are going to learn why features in a language are chosen by the designer, how to evaluate a programming language and how select a language for the computation task.

Python is the example programming language and projects are to be written in Python.

Topics

• Formal language basics: regular/context-free languages, finite automata
• Names, scopes, and bindings
• Control flow, recursion, exeption handling
• Data types, type checking
• Subroutines and control abstraction
• Data abstraction, Object-oriented programming
• Functional and logical programming
• Concurrency

Prerequisites:

Familiarity with at least one of the following programming languages: C, C++, Java, Pascal, Scheme, LISP.

Course Work

• There will be 8 problem sets, each of which will be worth 5% of the total grade. Each problem set is given on a Tuesday and due on the Tuesday two weeks later. Submit your assignments electronically by email to the TA or turn hard copies of homework in before class. Don't forget to write down your name.
• No Midterm exam.
• In-class final exam. The final will be worth 30% of the total grade.
• Two programming projects, each of which will be worth 15% of the total grade.

Grading Policy

You are free to discuss ideas with others, but all the homework you hand in or projects you submit should be your own creation.

You should state on your solution the names of people with whom you have discussed the problems.

For the programming projects, you should write EVERY LINE of your code. SHARING CODE is PROHIBITED.

A penalty of 10% will be applied to homework or a project that is submitted up to 24 hours late.

No credit will be given for homework or a project that is submitted more than 24 hours after it is due.

If you have questions regarding the grading of your assignments, you MUST come to see either the instructor or the TA WITHIN ONE WEEK of receipt of your graded assignments.

Disability

If you have a disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor early in the semester so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. You will need to provide documentation of your disability to the Disability Resources (DR) office, located on the main floor of the Student Services Building, Room 1076, 515-294-6624.

Documents

Textbook:

Michael L. Scott Programming Language Pragmatics (Second Edition)

Readings:

The following books/tutorials/papers are recommended as useful readings:

• Hopcroft, Ullman. Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation. Addison-Wesley.
  Basics of automata. Regular languages vs. finite state automata; context-free languages vs. push down automata.
• Guido van Rossum. Python Tutorial
• Steven Thurlow. A Beginner's Python Tutorial

Schedule, Lecture Notes, and Assignments