C311 -- Spring 1996

Programming Languages

• Class Information
• Overview
• Textbooks
• Syllabus
• Assignments
• Tools
• Examinations
• Administrivia
• Evaluations

Class Information

Instructor

Christopher T. (Chris) Haynes

Associate Instructors

Vikram Subramaniam and Erik Hilsdale.

Credit Hours

4

Requirements

C335 (Prerequisite) and C343 (Pre- or Corequisite)

Lecture

Section 2128 meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 9:05am to 9:55am in WH 109

Discussion Sections

• Section 2129 meets Tuesday, 2:30pm to 3:20pm in BH 321 (Erik Hilsdale)
• Section 2130 meets Thursday, 1:25pm to 2:15pm in BU 108 (Vikram Subramaniam)

Office Hours

Monday

• 10:30am to 12:00pm in LH 230e (Vikram Subramaniam)
• 10:30am to 12:00pm in LH 230f (Chris Haynes)
• 1:00pm to 2:30pm in LH 230c (Erik Hilsdale)

Wednesday

• 10:30am to 12:00pm in LH 230f (Chris Haynes)
• 1:00pm to 2:00pm in LH 230c (Erik Hilsdale)

Friday

• 10:30am to 12:00pm in LH 230e (Vikram Subramaniam)

Local newsgroup

ac.c.311

Web URL

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/classes/c311/

Overview

Interpreters and other language-processing programs are used throughout to present the essential elements of programming languages in a precise, analytic, manner. The extensive use of interpreters in this course also develops skill in meta-linguistic abstraction -- a powerful programming paradigm.

To thoroughly understand programming languages (or most any topic), it is necessary to have a variety of models, or views, at varying levels of abstraction. In this course we will employ a range of models from very high-level (almost mathematical semantics) to very low-level (almost assembly language), and emphasize the connections between levels.

Scheme is used as a meta-programming language throughout the course, but this course is about fundamentals that are the basis for most programming languages, not just Scheme.

Topics include

• Induction, Recursion, and Scope
• Direct semantics interpreters
• Object-oriented semantics
• Continuation-passing style
• Continuation-semantics interpreter
• Imperative form and stack architecture

Materials

Required

Essentials of Programming Languages, by Friedman, Wand and Haynes. This text, known as EOPL, should be available in any of the three big textbook bookstores (T.I.S, Aristotle's or the I.U. Bookstore), but you can get it cheaper if you can find an old grad student or undergrad who's taken C511 or C311.

Recommended

The Little Schemer, by Friedman and Felleisen. This should also be available in the bookstores. Old copies of The Little Lisper may also be helpful. A few copies of The Little Schemer will be placed on reserve in the Swain Hall library.

Other

Other materials may be required through the semester. These materials will be announced in class and will be made available through the White Rabbit on Indiana (near Kirkwood) and will cost a few dollars to cover copying costs.

Evolving Syllabus

Week of January 8

(re)Introduction to Scheme. EOPL preface and chapter 1, chapter 2 through section 2, and chapter 3 through section 3.

Week of January 15

Static Properties of Programs. EOPL, remainder of chapters 2 and 3.

Week of January 22

Simple interpreters. EOPL chapter 4 sections 5 and 6, and chapter 5 through section 3.

Week of January 29th

Procedures and assignment. EOPL, sections 5.4 and 5.5.

Week of February 5th

Recursion and dynamic scope. EOPL, rest of chapter 5.

Weeks of February 12th and 19th

Continuation-passing style. EOPL chapter 8.

Week of February 26th

Representation-independent interpreter, continuations as records, and reified continuations. EOPL sections 9.1 through 9.3.

Week of March 4th

First-class continuations and exception handling. Continuation notes

Week of March 18th

Imperative form and control stack architecture. EOPL sections 10.1 and 10.2, thoroughly.

Week of March 25th

Environment stack architecture. Parameter passing. EOPL, rest of chapter 10 for general information: not responsible for code details. Handout call-by.ss and EOPL chapter 6; not responsible for material involving array.

Week of April 1st

Second exam. More comments on parameter passing. Introduction to Java and object-oriented programming.EOPL section 7.1.

Week of April 8th

Java programming tutorial. Static-methods-only Java interpreter. Handout java1.ss.

Week of April 15th

More object-oriented programming, Java style. EOPL section 7.2.

Week of April 22th

More object-oriented programming, Java style. Also emphasis on the importance of virtual member functions in C++, as illustrated by virtual.C.

Classes

Attendance at discussion sections is mandatory. Usually, a problem or set of problems will be given out at the beginning of discussion section and the class will be broken up into small groups to solve the problems. The AI leading the discussion section will go between groups answering questions and asking questions about the work done so far and about the class material. Your answers to these questions, and your progress on the problems given in discussion section, will count toward your final grade.

Some lectures may also be conducted in this manner, and some other lectures will present material not found in the book. Don't miss class!

Assignments

One assignment will usually be given each week. Assignments will be made public by 9:00 AM Monday and due before 9:00 AM the next Monday.

For the most part, assignments will be handed in by email to an automatic checker and results emailed back almost immediately. Assignments may be prepared on the system of your choice, but should run properly using Chez Scheme. Homeworks will be graded by hand, but the automatic checker will provide feedback as to the correctness of the submissions.

1. Basic Scheme -- solution
2. More Basic Scheme -- solution
3. Static Properties -- solution
4. Simple interpreter -- solution
5. Procedure interpreter -- solution
6. Recursion and dynamic scope -- solution
7. The CPS Conversion -- solution
8. The CPS Conversion (continued) -- solution
9. CPS and Representation -- solution
10. Paramters and Exceptions -- solution
11. Registers and Stacks -- solution
12. Parameter Passing -- solution
13. Basic Java -- solution
14. Conditionals and Looping -- solution

Tools

Emacs is our most important tool, so you may want to get emacs optimized for Scheme programming before trying the projects.

For later interpreters we will be using the define-record and variant-case macros. Both of these are defined (for Chez Scheme version 5) in the file record.ss.

Since we're going to be talking about Sun's new miracle language, Java, an introduction (of sorts) is available.

Indentation

The Scheme emacs support automatically indents code in accordance with these rules, and includes a command for automatically checking and correcting the indentation of a definition after it has been edited. However, it is strongly suggested that you write solutions to all exercises by hand and check them carefully for correctness before approaching a computer. This will give you practice at indentation by hand (which is necessary for exams) and, more importantly, it is in most cases much easier to find mistakes in this course's exercises by thinking about them than by debugging. An hour with a pencil is worth several at the keyboard! (Remember this if you are bothered by large amounts of time spent at the keyboard completing your assignments.)

Evaluation

The following is a tentative schedule for evaluation, with approximate percentage contributions to the final grade.

• Self assessment Quizette; 0 percent.
• Scheme Quiz -- Monday, January 22, in class; 10 percent. You will be asked to write, in 25 minutes, several programs similar to those in the first assignment.
• Exam One -- Monday, February 19, in class, on EOPL chapters 1 through 5; 20 percent.
• Exam Two -- Monday, April 1st, in class; 20 percent.
• Final Exam -- Friday, May 3, 8:00am to 10:00am; 35 percent. The final will cover the whole course, with emphasis on material since the second exam.
• Assignments; 10 percent. (They don't count a whole lot, but somehow students who do not make a serious effort to do the assignments independently do poorly on exams.)
• Subjective assessment based on attendance, participation, and preparation for lectures and discussion sessions; 5 percent.

Administrivia

• For your ethical pleasure, you should read the Computer Science Department statement on academic integrity. It's dry, but important.

• Incompletes:

  An incomplete (I) final grade will be given only by prior arrangement in exceptional circumstances conforming to departmental policy in which the bulk of course work has been completed in passing fashion.

• Possibly Important Dates
  • Monday, February 5 -- Last day to Pass/Fail the course.
  • Wednesday, March 6 -- Last day to Drop the course on your own.
  • Thursday, April 18 -- Last day to Drop the course with a Dean's approval.

Course Evaluations

Before the end of the semester, please complete the electronic Course evaluation forms for Chris Haynes and your discussion section AI, either Vikram Subramaniam or Erik Hilsdale. The department does look at the (anonymous) evaluations, and--perhaps more importantly--we do too; so do next year's students a favor and give some constructive criticism.

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